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The New VA Health Plan Is Second Life
theodp writes "Remember when Catbert informed Dilbert that the new company health plan is Google? In another case of life imitating Dilbert, combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are being provided with a US Army-sponsored virtual world in Second Life (slideshow) to help deal with their condition. Developed by USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, it is hoped that the veterans-only virtual world Coming Home and its planned activities will promote conversations that can help reduce PTSD. The Avatar will see you now, Sergeant."
This is a logical continuation of conference calls and working from home. It's like going to a self help group meeting, without actually having to drive over there (saving time, money, and polar bears). That, and you have an additional layer of anonymity, which might help lower the threshold for newcomers who are too ashamed of joining.
I think a similar system could work very well for other groups such as AA and NA.
I'd rather you rationally disagree than irrationally agree.
I've been following a lot of similar stories recently and I don't understand why agencies and institutions wouldn't build on an opensource infrastructure that they can control (e.g., something like openlife). What happens if Linden labs goes belly-up?
I have a Ph.D. in psychology and I can tell you that the notion of "escaping from reality" is a concept borrowed more from pop-psychology than science. The fact of the matter is, these people need exposure to cues that trigger traumatic memories in a context that is safe, supervised, and controlled. Talking about roadside bombs is an important first step but far less immersive (and less effective) for later parts of therapy than being part of an animated scene where patients get to re-experience a convoy-support mission.
Perhaps they'll recover from the war-related PTSD, but you've introduced a whole other traumatic situation by bringing Second Life into the mix. How long will it take our brave veterans to get over the horror of bombardment via millions of floating penises?
-- I prefer the term "karma escort."
I work in the military as a health care provider.
One of the biggest problems for military specific PTSD patients is the feeling that no one around them understands. And in most cases, they are right. No one really does understand, nor could they.
Once someone is medically retired they lose the connection of having buddies around them who've been through the same or at least similar experiences. There aren't many people in civilian life to connect with.
I think using a Second Life style interface for soldiers and veterans (especially veterans for the reasons I've mentioned above) is a great idea. It provides an opportunity for people to connect with others who have similar experiences. I think it would probably be even more effective to have a game where people are actually doing something rather than just sitting around talking to each other; many veterans will reject something like this as just another "group therapy" session.
Now a PTSD only Halo server or something would be great. You could even have separate servers for guys blown up in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. You could have an "I hate MRAPs but I still have my legs" server. The possibilities are endless. If you allowed the soldiers/vets to make their own designations they would probably scandalize those who've never been in the military :-).
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
I'd have to say it really is probably up to the individual soldier whether that will work for him or not. Everyone handles it differently, and self-medicates differently. Many of my old comrades cannot watch war-related movies or watch/play FPS video games like COD, GRAW, etc. I say go for it-if it helps just a few people it would be worth it.