Abstract-"Virtual Iraq"

After war, many marines suffer through battle fatigue, or Post Trauma Stress Disorder. These soldiers are left with memories after they witness death that hinders them through living their everyday life. What is the prescription for an invisible wound? From the article Virtual Iraq by Sue Halpern, Virtual Iraq is a program given by psychologists that helps to "disconnect the memory from the reactions to the memory, so that although the memory of the traumatic event remains, the everyday things that can trigger fear and panic, such as trash blowing across the interstate or a car backfiring—what psychologists refer to as cues—are restored to insignificance". This virtual war stimulator is part of immersion therapy, as it allows the warrior to revisit and retell their story. The scenarios of Iraq are given in sessions and introduced gradually, so that it isn't too much to handle at first. While this sounds like an easy way to help cure these battle wounds, therapists "have been slow to adopt exposure therapy, because they worry that it might be cruel to immerse a patient in a drowning pool of painful memories". However, hopefully this therapy doesn't work in a reverse way by making these wounds deeper and drowning the ex-soldiers in their old nightmares once more. The point of this "virtual war" is to help patients from suffering from PTSD before it starts, unlike what happened with Vietnam. According to the results of the article, Virtual Iraq does help, but PTSD is a condition that one must live by and work with, not cure. An invisible wound can be cleaned up and bandaged, but it will never heal perfectly.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/19/080519fa_fact_halpern?currentPage=all