Virtual reality helps vets

Fresh cut grass, food smoking on a grill, mom's homemade apple pie.

Fragrance can trigger a memory in a split second. Each of these odors produces a specific personal memory.

But for those who have just returned from Iraq or Afghanistan specific smells can trigger good and bad memories experienced while at war.

A new program at the UCF Anxiety Disorders Clinic in the Department of Psychology is using virtual reality, including smells, to help treat men and women who have returned from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from combat related post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Trauma Management Therapy Program, led by director of the UCF Anxiety Disorders Clinic and clinical psychology professor Dr. Deborah Beidel, is 17 weeks long and is free for all military personnel returning home from Iraq or Afghanistan.

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, 11 to 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have suffered from PTSD.

"The first part of the treatment for all 60 veterans is five weeks of individual exposure sessions," said Dr. Sandra Neer, research assistant professor for the program. "Exposure therapy is the most effective treatment that we have for PTSD and participants will receive one-on-one treatment using the Virtual-Reality equipment to simulate specific combat zones that have been the cause of nightmares, flashbacks or intrusive thoughts."

During the sessions the veteran is exposed to detailed scenes and scents based on each person's specific trauma. The veteran will wear headgear and headphones while controlling a joystick to simulate events that occurred during their time in Iraq and/or Afghanistan.

The veteran could be walking in the heart of a Middle Eastern city and view specific events such as cars blowing up or people calling the veteran names. The program varies and is personalized to fit each individual's needs.

The smells used in the program are weapon fire, body odor, burning rubber, diesel fuel, Moroccan spices, garbage and cordite, a type of gun powder. These smells are controlled by the researcher and released at specific times during the exposure session.

The researcher can control everything the veteran is experiencing, picking the sights, sounds and even weather.

"They will be immersed in the scene — smelling the smells and seeing the sights," Neer said.

During the exposure sessions the veteran's anxiety is measured to determine how the veteran is responding to the treatment. Over the five weeks of individual sessions, the researchers will monitor the veteran's progress, determining their improvement in the program.

After the five weeks of personal-exposure sessions the group of 60 veterans in the study will be placed in small groups of four to six people.  For the last 12 weeks of the program half of the veterans will receive group therapy treatment that focuses on anger management, interpersonal skills, and behavioral activation to deal with feelings of depression.

"We will use group therapy to help participants readjust to life in the United States," Neer said.

The other half of the group will receive more typical group treatment for PTSD which uses support groups of veterans to help group members share their experiences and give advice to help each other.

"Our No. 1 goal is to determine what is the most effective treatment for veterans with post traumatic stress disorder," Neer said.

The treatment program is funded by a three-year $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Army's Military Operations Medical Research Program, which is part of the Department of Defense.

It is the first large-scale clinical research program that will incorporate smell into the specialized Virtual-Reality sessions for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Trauma Management Therapy Program is free for all servicemen and women who were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, including people who are members of the Reserve and National Guard.

Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder listed on the program's information sheet include: Re-experiencing the events of recent combat, avoiding events or situations that remind you of your combat experiences, feeling numb or feeling detached from others, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating or feeling extremely irritable.

Veterans with these symptoms are encouraged to call the Anxiety Disorders clinic; an official PTSD diagnosis is not needed to participate.

For a screening call 407-823-1668.

"If a candidate is not appropriate for this specific study we will help them get treatment elsewhere," Neer said.