To Heal Press Start

Halpern, Sue. "Virtual Iraq." The New Yorker. Condé Nast Digital,
May 2008. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.

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In the article Virtual Iraq Sue Halpern has taken a look inside an emerging type of immersion therapy. Halpern begins by telling the story of a solder she calls Travis. As a solder Travis had faced numerous traumas such as moving dead bodies to find a place to sleep, experiencing the constant threat of improvised explosive devices, and witnessing the death of a close comrade. After finishing two tours in Iraq, Travis returns home and begins to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. Halpern relates how Travis was plagued by unnatural fears, “I’d have my wife drive me if I had to go off the base. A few times, I thought I saw a mortar in the road and reached for the steering wheel. I was always on alert, ready for anything to happen at any time.” As a result of his P.T.S.D. Travis was referred to the Virtual Iraq program. Virtual Iraq is a program that emulates the sites, sounds, and smells, of Iraq. By utilizing a combination of video goggles and a head set a patient can be put onto a street corner. A therapist can also introduce various civilians and events (i.e. car bombs exploding, helicopters flying over, and insurgents) thereby adding to the authenticity of the street corner. Virtual Iraq allows the patient to able to confront his fears in a safe environment. Halpern takes the time to show that while this present technology may be impressive, it has been around albeit in a more rudimentary form since the late nineties. What had began as a generic simulation of riding in a helicopter for Vietnam Veterans now has the potential to recreate scenarios that can be tailored to the real life experiences of modern solders. Halpern also takes a peek behind the curtain to reveal Albert Rizzo, the man who invented Virtual Iraq. Rizzo, a clinical psychologist, has created a variety of simulations for various mental conditions. Rizzo goes as far as to claim, “The last one hundred years, we’ve studied psychology in the real world. In the next hundred, we’re going to study it in the virtual world.” Though the claim may sound lofty, it has worked for Travis. By the end of the article Travis is mostly free of his P.T.S.D. Travis remarks, “You never really get rid of P.T.S.D., but you learn to live with it."

Sue Halpern has drawn attention to an important intersection of culture and technology. Halpern has demonstrated in her piece that by utilizing both technology and psychoanalysis many solders are able to receive help they would not have received otherwise. Halpert included the real life example of Travis and how he was crippled by P.T.S.D. Travis was given the option of meeting with a military psychologist or enrolling in a clinical trial that utilizes Virtual Iraq. Halpern clearly conveys one of the main factors in the decision: while there would be no penalty for seeing the psychologist, it would go on Travis’ military record. By emphasizing the fact that the record would follow him, Halpern not only conveys Travis’s hesitancy to see psychologist, but also the potential that many others in the military may not seek help. To some solders the allure of a “playing a videogame” may be stronger than the fear associated with sitting down and being open with a psychologist. Halpern says of Travis choosing Virtual Iraq, “Telling his buddies that he was going off to do V.R. was a lot easier than telling them he was seeing a shrink.” By being given the choice to use Virtual Iraq, Travis is able to fully embrace a form of therapy that has little if any social stigma associated with it, while still receiving the benefits of facing P.T.S.D. head on. Beyond the choice that Travis is faced with Halpern also deliberately shows the various stages of Travis’ progression, this conveys the effectiveness of the Virtual Iraq program in a way that statistics alone could not. The article and Halpern embrace the positive nature of the Virtual Iraq program as a means to reach out to solders. In fact one of the only negative elements in the article is the example of why Virtual Iraq is necessary, Americas past failure to aid veterans of Viet Nam. By utilizing the Virtual Iraq the solders that suffer from P.T.S.D. will be given the tools to disassociate their trauma from everyday life, something Viet Nam vets didn’t have available. With America fighting wars on multiple fronts it is important that today’s veterans are given every opportunity to regain a sense of normal.