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VR Goggles Heal Scars of War

Dr. Skip Rizzo shows off the virtual-reality goggles that enable his post-traumatic stress disorder therapy. Skull not included.
Photo: Courtesy of Institute for Creative Technologies

VR Goggles Heal Scars of War
By Xeni Jardin

All I can see in every direction is black smoke, with intermittent darts of flame. And all I hear is gunfire, mortar rounds and the rumbling engine of the fortified tank I'm driving to Falluja. I'm inside a virtual-reality simulation of a war zone in Iraq. High-resolution goggles cover my eyes and headphones cover my ears.

Seated next to me, tapping out commands on a controller, is Dr. Albert "Skip" Rizzo, a cognitive psychologist and virtual therapy developer with the Institute for Creative Technologies.

At this University of Southern California think tank, Hollywood special-effects pros and game developers come together to develop new immersive simulation technologies for the military. Most are used as training tools, but this time, the goal is to help combatants cope with the personal psychological effects of war in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

After a few minutes of increasingly intense activity, my heart speeds up, my breathing becomes more shallow, my palms become warmer -- and I'm really, really ready to stop the sim.

"This is not a self-help tool, and it's not something you download yourself off the internet," said Rizzo, when I'm finally allowed to remove the headgear. "Everything you experienced is a function of us turning knobs and pulling switches. If we noticed your heart rate was too fast, we'd pull back on things."

But in real war, you don't get to take off the goggles. Full Story