Immersive Rehearsal in a Simulated Environment

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Virtual Reality Technology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Virtual environments (VEs) offer safe spaces for therapeutic rehearsal.
• Research on VEs for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment is growing, but guidelines for effective environment design are lacking.
• This study aimed to inform the design of VEs for military veterans to rehearse stressful events.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of virtual environments (VEs) for rehearsing stressful events in military veterans.
• To determine design guidelines for VEs used in PTSD treatment.
• To assess physiological and behavioral responses to specific stimuli within VEs.

Main Methods:

• Thirty-eight participants (with and without PTSD) experienced two VEs using Oculus Rift.
• The first VE was a tranquil garden for baseline data collection.
• The second VE included stimuli designed to evoke PTSD responses, measuring heart rate (ΔHR), discomfort, and behavior.

Main Results:

• The PTSD group exhibited significantly higher ΔHR compared to the non-PTSD group (P = .008).
• Crowded auditoriums and startle sounds most significantly impacted ΔHR (P < .001).
• PTSD group showed more avoidance behavior and a significant interaction between group and stimulus on discomfort scores (P = .043).

Conclusions:

• VEs, beyond combat simulations, can elicit significant emotional and physiological responses in individuals with PTSD.
• These findings support further research into non-combat VEs for veteran PTSD treatment.
• Future VEs should incorporate configurable stimuli, including crowded scenarios and startle noises, to target specific traumatic experiences.