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“This works because some people don’t engage in the trauma memory at a sufficient level. “We can begin to pace the exposure in a very evocative fashion,” Rizzo said. If the patient experienced the trauma at night or in the daytime, or perhaps was involved in an IED explosion, those circumstances will be created in the virtual world. If the patient recalls hearing a young boy’s voice, the technician makes that happen. Patients wear goggles and describe their experiences while a technician stands by with a console changing the scene to fit the patient’s description.

Recently Rizzo and other experts have employed virtual reality for this purpose. This would happen repeatedly and ideally, with each retelling of what happened, the event would seem gradually less threatening. Typically a therapist would ask someone to imagine they are experiencing their trauma again. This kind of therapy has been around for years. Is there a way to treat PTSD that lessens that chances that a sufferer will act out?Įxposure therapy often helps the person with PTSD revisit or re-experience their trauma as a means of lessening the effect the memory has on them, said Rizzo, who is with the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California. It depends on what the trigger environment hyper vigilance and this leads to people being quick to anger and impulsive so yes that potential does exist but you don’t want to make it seem like if you’re diagnosed. Researchers found that about 23% of those with PTSD and high irritability had been arrested for criminal offenses.īut researchers also found that other factors unrelated to military service - including growing up around violence or drug abuse - were factors behind why some vets committed crimes. The study, conducted by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, examined 1,388 combat veterans. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who struggle with anger are twice as likely as other vets to be arrested for crimes, according to the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, which published a study last year. There’s no way to answer that definitively, experts say. There are more services for mental health care in the military than there has ever been before.”Ĭould PTSD lead someone to act violently? “As an organization and as a community, the military has varying levels of health and risk. “We don’t want to stigmatize our vets because many of them are not ill,” he said. “We need to remember that while substantial numbers of vets have mental health conditions,” Cozza said, the majority do not. Thirty percent of service members who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan have been diagnosed with PTSD, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study released last year. Albert “Skip” Rizzo, a psychiatrist who works with the military and has pioneered use of virtual reality for treating PTSD. In the general population about 7% of people experience PTSD, and there is a 60% chance of at-risk individuals - combat veterans, victims of natural disasters or victims of violent crime - experiencing PTSD, according to Dr. While many people will have extremely distressing or threatening experiences in their lifetimes, only a small percentage will experience PTSD, experts say.

How common is it for someone to be diagnosed with PTSD?

The person often feels intensely that the trauma could happen again at any time. A sufferer typically re-experiences the trauma through flashbacks and nightmares, experiences that can seem as real as the actual trauma. Cozza, a professor of psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Nonetheless, Kyle’s tragic death and Routh’s story are shining light on those who suffer from PTSD and the circumstances that surround it.Īnyone who has experienced a life-threatening situation can develop PTSD, according to Dr. And it’s not even clear that Routh served in a combat zone during his four years in the Marines. Of course, combat duty doesn’t automatically lead to PTSD. Not long before, at a Texas shooting range, police say, Routh had gunned down Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL who called himself America’s deadliest military sniper.Īs he sits in a Texas jail cell, details about Routh’s psychological make-up have surfaced, including claims that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that affects a number of current and former members of the U.S. (CNN) - When police caught up with alleged killer Eddie Ray Routh last weekend, the 25-year-old ex-Marine was crying, shirtless, shoeless and smelling of alcohol.