Effectiveness of virtual reality exposure therapy for active duty soldiers in a military mental health clinic.

@article{Reger2011EffectivenessOV,
  title={Effectiveness of virtual reality exposure therapy for active duty soldiers in a military mental health clinic.},
  author={Greg M. Reger and Kevin M. Holloway and Colette M. Candy and Barbara O. Rothbaum and JoAnn Difede and Albert A. Rizzo and Gregory A. Gahm},
  journal={Journal of traumatic stress},
  year={2011},
  volume={24 1},
  pages={
          93-6
        }
}
Exposure therapy is an evidence-based treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but research evaluating its effectiveness with active duty service members is limited. This report examines the effectiveness of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRE) for active duty soldiers (N = 24) seeking treatment following a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. Relative to their pretreatment self-reported symptoms on the PTSD Checklist, Military Version (M = 60.92; SD = 11.03), patients reported a… 
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156 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
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Background Citations
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Methods Citations
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Results Citations
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156 Citations

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Randomized controlled trial of prolonged exposure using imaginal exposure vs. virtual reality exposure in active duty soldiers with deployment-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Previous evidence supporting the efficacy of PE to active-duty military personnel is extended and important questions for future research on VRE are raised.

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Military personnel are at risk for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder. Although effective treatments are available, the need for improved treatment efficacy and less stigmatizing…

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Efforts to use virtual reality to deliver exposure therapy, assess PTSD and cognitive function and provide stress resilience training prior to deployment are detailed.

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The use of Virtual Reality (VR) as a clinical tool to address the assessment, prevention, and treatment of PTSD is presented, based on the VR projects that were evolved at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies since 2004.
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