Video games tend to have a bad reputation in this world; whether it be because "they're corrupting our youth with violence" or "desensitizing and isolating the youth's mentality," we rarely hear about the good things video games can do for people.
Video games are now being used to diagnose and treat PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder--especially in soldiers who come back from war. Video games have led psychologists to discoveries about PTSD that they would've never known before since it's very difficult to get PTSD patients to simply talk about the traumatic events that effected them.
"Virtual Reality is able to deliver exposure therapy, the number one therapy recommended for PTSD by immersing returning soldiers in simulations of trauma-relevant environments." said Dr. Albert Rizzo an expert in the use of virtual reality technology in mental health applications at University of Southern Califnornia. "The emotional intensity of the scenes can be precisely controlled by the clinician in collaboration with the patients' wishes. VR allows multi-sensory and context-relevant cues that evoke the trauma without exclusively relying on the patient to actively remember and imagine actual experiences (as is required in traditional exposure approaches)."
This is groundbreaking for the video game world considering like I said the older generation tends to bash them and brush them off as just plain useless distractions. PTSD is a serious disorder that comes with anxious and depressive symptoms and one video game test showed 80 percent clinically meaningful reductions in the disorder. These video games are attractive to the younger generation and it makes them feel more comfortable and susceptible to this treatment.
One particular video game called "Virtual Iraq" electronically re-creates Iraqi environments. "The system uses graphics to deliver a video game-like display, as well as sounds and even smells, to help those suffering from PTSD revisit the events that affected them." said Salvatore Salamone a blogger on SmarterTechnology.com. Doctors can use this technology like in Virtual Iraq to pinpoint what specifically sets off a patient's trauma and then work from there.
The Pentagon is taking this idea a step forward by using brain-powered video games. The process is called neurofeedback. "A clinician affixes EEG electrodes to specific regions on a patient’s scalp, designed to read the output of the patient’s brain activity. Then, as the clinician monitors those brain waves from a computer console, the patient controls the key element of a videogame — like a car racing through a winding tunnel — using nothing more than their mind." said Katie Drummond from Wired.com
This is absolutely amazing that these people are able to be treated and understood because of these video games. Previously people would have to sit and talk and recollect the events in a non-interesting, generic therapist office setting where they wouldn't feel the trauma for maybe 45 minutes or in some cases not even until the next session, whereas now these people can almost immediately feel those intense emotions that they experience because the virtual reality actually makes them feel as if they're in that traumatic moment again. This is one of technology's finest jobs that it's providing for humans. If these video games can do this for PTSD, who knows what they can do for other mental and psychological disorders. There's so much more exploring to do in terms of using video games for treatment in the medical field because they have very promising results.