Virtual Humans Keep It Real - SIGNAL Magazine

U.S. Army soldiers have something in common with Superman and Spider-Man: they all benefit from Army-funded virtual reality research being conducted at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. The Oscar-winning research has made digital characters look more realistic in movies such as Avatar, Spider-Man II andSuperman Returns, among others, and it also helps soldiers cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. It also is used to train service members for a variety of missions and situations, including countering both improvised explosive devices and insurgency operations, as well as tactical intelligence gathering. The institute’s research, which rapidly is taking the “virtual” out of virtual reality, also helps teach soldiers such traits as leadership, cultural awareness and relationship building.

By George I. Seffers

Virtual Humans Keep It Real - SIGNAL Magazine

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reduced by Meditation

Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars showed a 50 percent improvement in their post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following eight weeks of practicing meditation, researchers report in this month's issue of Military Medicine.

Researchers, led by Dr. Norman Rosenthal, clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown UniversityMedical School, studied five veterans who had engaged in moderate or heavy moderate combat for 10 months to two years in Iraq and/or Afghanistan.

The veterans were taught the Transcendental Meditation technique and then evaluated mainly according to the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), a tool used to diagnose and assess PTSD in trauma survivors.


By Ginger Chan