Virtual Reality Stress Inoculation Training for Combat Medics and Others In High-Risk Military Occupations

This proposal will leverage recent and current projects led or co-led Drs. Mark and Brenda Wiederhold of The Virtual Reality Medical Center (VRMC) to mitigate or prevent stress-related disorders as a consequence of participation in military operations. These projects include developing objective pre- and post-deployment predictors of PTSD, testing pre-deployment resiliency interventions, and stress inoculation training (SIT) validation and longitudinal tracking. These assessments and interventions complement current Battlemind concepts and resources (www.battlemind.org). The effort will conduct research to identify and evaluate a multi-modal approach to providing effective psychological combat resilience. The technical challenge will be to develop a comprehensive potential solution that will combine neuro-pharmacological approaches that will inoculate against the damaging neural effects of stress pre-traumatic exposure or prevent the harmful changes in neural function post-traumatic exposure. We will focus on a cognitive approach that emphasizes resilience building through a controlled stress exposure intervention (e.g. immersion in VR), with planned validation through both physiological and biochemical testing. The desired research outcome is a capability that demonstrably reduces the prevalence of combat stress injuries in military personnel.