Last weekend on NPR's On The Media program they featured an interview with Dr. Skip Rizzo, a research scientist at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, about treating Iraq veterans for various mental health issues related to combat.

The researchers were using virtual reality to take service members back to the specific instance where the original traumatic experience occurred.

What is novel about this approach is the use of a virtual reality simulator based on the game Full Spectrum Warrior.  The simulator could recreate sounds, smells,  visuals including destroyed vehicles, mangled bodies, and the smell of burned hair which according to the interview was an often talked about smell among veterans.

Yes Mr. Thompson, video games do help people.

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