It's Not All in Your Head
From: Wired News - 01/27/2005
By: Randy Dotinga

The Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego is one of roughly 10 such
clinics in the United States that treat phobics, disaster victims, and
soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder by putting them in
virtual-reality scenarios. "Exposure therapy" does not eliminate people's
fundamental fears, but helps them cope with situations by learning to control
their actions under pressure, while decreasing prices for computing power and
virtual-reality equipment means psychological treatment using virtual reality
is changing rapidly. Researchers intend to add to virtual reality simulations
by adding touch sensation and more interactive capabilities, eventually
enabling the type of immersive "holodeck" scenarios shown in Star Trek. There
are still serious obstacles to reaching that goal, including relatively cheap
but limited virtual reality helmets that University of Washington researcher
Hunter Hoffman describes as looking into a neighbor's backyard through a
crack in a fence. Some simulations feature human figures that look less
detailed than characters in the Sims game, but graphics realism is improving
quickly, such as with an airport scenario at the San Diego treatment center
that uses digital photos and real audio from the San Diego International
Airport. Patients who fear airports can learn to deal with situations by
going through the airport ticket counter, food court, and security
checkpoints. Doctors are on hand to monitor breathing rates, pulse, and
perspiration, and pinpoint foundations of people's fears. Hoffman says
current virtual reality treatments do not need to be ultra-realistic in order
to be effective since the obvious computer simulation helps patients tolerate
the scenario. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,66408,00.html

Links:
Virtual Reality Medical Center
http://www.vrphobia.com/index.htm

Hunter Hoffman
http://www.hitl.washington.edu/people/hunter/