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 Dual PSI Programs Support DoD Mission to Treat Soldiers with PTSD
 For the past two years, PSI has been supporting the Military Health System (MHS) through MHS Learn, a centralized, web-based platform offering a single source to address the learning needs of MHS staff, patients, and caregivers. MHS Learn is now preparing to launch awareness tools and web-based training on Virtual Iraq, a virtual reality exposure therapy overseen by PSI's Telehealth Team for the Department of Defense (DoD).
Virtual Iraq is a virtual reality exposure therapy system that provides mental health treatment to soldiers returning from war with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). An article in Defense Health Services Systems (DHSS) Expresso reports that exposure therapy has been shown to help PTSD sufferers confront their trauma and guide the process that leads to emotional healing.
The therapy involves exposing PTSD sufferers to a virtual world where they re-experience the sights, sounds, and, even the smells of combat, helping them to confront their trauma in a controlled and safe environment. By gradually re-introducing the patient to the experiences that triggered the trauma, the memory becomes tolerable and the healing process begins.
The MHS Learn web-based training, an Air Force Wounded Warrior initiative, will show practitioners how to use the Virtual Iraq hardware and software, and introduce them to ways of administering effective treatment sessions. The online training includes refresher courses on understanding and treating PTSD, as well as the clinical use of virtual reality, and is scheduled to be launched in June at https://mhslearn.csd.disa.mil
PSI's Telehealth Team also works to support the DoD mission to treat PTSD and improve critical care to inflicted soldiers. Our team of specialists oversees the Virtual Reality Program, coordinating clinical application and supervision training, collecting operational utilization metrics and obtaining feedback from site clinicians to further enhance content scenario development. Additionally, the team assists the Air Force Medical Service Office of the Surgeon General in the identification, deployment, and sustainment of new and emerging virtual reality technologies that enhance the level of mental health services provided to our active duty and veteran service members and their families.
"As a result of our Virtual Reality Program, our triservice Wounded Warriors have gained improved access to the most advanced mental health care for PTSD," said recently retired Lt Col Timothy Lacy, M.D., Chief, Telehealth, Imaging and Cybermedicine, who previously led the program. The program is now headed by Air Force Lt. Col. Antonio Eppolito, M.D., Chief of Telehealth.
To date, the Virtual Iraq system has been deployed at military treatment facilities at ten Air Force Bases worldwide, including: Andrews, Eglin, Elmendorf, Langley, Lackland, Moody, McGuire, Ramstein, Travis, and Wright-Patterson.
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