Video Games and Their Fight Against PTSD

        I remember growing up playing Banjo-Kazooie and Mario Race Kart on my Nintendo 64. Alongside that, I had my Gameboy Color, later my Game Boy Advance and Game Cube, and not long after that my DS Lite and Xbox 360, and now my 3DS and Kinect. It's crazy how these gaming systems have come such a long way and how much they are capable of doing for people, especially since they are centered and modified to meet our ever changing needs. Alongside fighting bosses and moving through story modes, these games now provide another way to connect to the internet, your computer (laptop and desktop), to watch movies (with HD quality), download demos, and even watch television (on Netflix, YouTube, etc.) among other things. The industry for gaming systems and games for these systems is incredible. As I stated earlier, modifications to these systems center around human need, so why not use this idea of gaming to help those who are mentally sick? And when I say those who are mentally sick, I mean war veterans suffering from PTSD. Albert Rizzo came up with this idea while working at the University of Southern California and is the director of their Creative Technologies Department. His game features virtual army men and women acting as liasons between veterans suffering from PTSD and the doctors that they should see but are too afraid to. Veterans can type in questions such as "I don't know if I have PTSD" and can get a response back from these SIMS, a response that is customized to that particular user. The SIMS can display emotion if they see that the user (veteran) types depressing statements and/or questions. What I found really cool is that the video game  (connects over Internet) and its SIMS can also direct the user to certain websites to find answers to any questions they may have, or could even connect them to a hotline if they just really need someone to talk to or type phrases like "I just can't do this anymore" (kind of like that Life Alert System for seniors). 

Here's the "Female Aviator" who was one of the top 3 candidates
in a poll to choose user friendly SIMS. 

       I can't seem to find any negative aspects to such an idea other than the fact that veterans are not so technologically oriented and may not know how to type or maneuver through the video game. It would be great to have the SIMS respond in another language to rid any language barriers, as well. Of course the SIMS would not be able to respond with as much affection and with precise answers to all questions  asked because they are very limited in what they can do or respond with, but I do believe it's a great step in the forward direction. Taking a post-modern approach to this, maybe these game simulations can be extended into helping children, teens, and young adults suffering from game addiction and violent behaviors that sometimes result from playing violent video games ( the "misunderstood misunderstanding" regarding sheep is still in my head it seems). Nonetheless, I just thought this was really interesting and is a cool mix of gaming and human psychology. 

-Rad

Sources:

1. Article