A Virtual take a look at for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

By combining virtual reality with knowledge from physiological sensors, researchers at Draper Laboratory are attempting to develop a replacement thanks to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), within which those that have undergone a traumatic event expertise it once more and once more.

The analysis is of specific interest to the military, as a result of several fighters arriving from Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD. several have conjointly been subjected to explosions or alternative trauma, usually leading to gentle traumatic brain injury. the 2 disorders have similar symptoms however need completely different treatments, therefore correct diagnosis is crucial.

A diagnosis of PTSD is currently based mostly on interviews with a physician and therefore the presence of sure symptoms, like flashbacks of the trauma and problem in sleeping and concentrating. however if the disorder might be diagnosed additional exactly and objectively, it may facilitate physicians distinguish PTSD from alternative disorders, and conjointly facilitate in assessing the effectiveness of specific treatments.

In a pilot study of seven folks with PTSD, seven healthy folks, and eleven folks with trauma however not PTSD, Andrea Webb, who may be a psychophysiologist at Draper, and collaborators measured heart rate, finger pulse, respiration, and skin conductance (a live of stress and excitement), initial when the person was calm and then when he or she was shown probably scary scenes via virtual-reality goggles. The virtual-reality scenes became progressively additional intense. for instance, the primary could be a helicopter flying overhead; the last could be an insurgent running toward the topic whereas shooting his weapon.

Previous analysis by others within the field has shown that folks with PTSD tend to own an exaggerated response to those varieties of scenes, with additional dramatic will increase in heart rate and blood pressure than those recorded in healthy folks. Webb's goal is to require knowledge from the sensors and build algorithms to reliably detect who has PTSD. though knowledge assortment and analysis are still underway, Webb says that preliminary findings show many instances within which folks with PTSD did react additional strongly than those within the alternative teams.