Healing 9/11 Wounds, Virtually

Digital Crumbling Of Twin Towers Seems To Ease Stress, Depression

(CBS) 
Other senses were added, as well as motion, so the helmet’s wearer can look up to see the flaming tops of the towers or down to see ambulances and rubble. He or she simultaneously hears distant screams and feels the ground shake.

"That way, someone who hasn't wanted to engage – who didn't want to go back to the World Trade Center – can do so in a very safe and controlled fashion," Difede said. "They can go out of the world if it becomes too distressing. They can then start processing their memories."

King, 57, said the digital return to Ground Zero flooded him with images and sensations he had blocked out.

"It could get so emotional putting it on," King said. "Ten or 15 minutes into the session, I was sweating, I was shaking, and so much was coming back to me."

The helmet adjusts visual images to its wearer’s motion by reacting to an electromagnetic sensor in a corner of Difede’s office. Although this helmet – worth almost $20,000 – can be used for many virtual reality programs (including flight simulations for those afraid of flying and a virtual audience for those traumatized by public speaking) the World Trade Center program is the only of its kind.

And King said it’s the only thing that helped him return to Ground Zero.

"I’ve been through thinking, ‘I’m never gonna get better,’ but the virtual reality made a difference. I couldn’t get by, I couldn’t sleep," King said. "But now I’ve been long off the medication."

In one preliminary test, Difede and her research partner, Hunter G. Hoffman, Ph.D., director of the virtual reality research center at the University of Washington, reported that gradual exposure to a virtual World Trade Center attack reduced post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms by 90 percent. It cut standard depression symptoms by 83 percent.

King – like many others who scoff at the idea of a digital flaming office tower – has become a believer.

"It reminded me of a PlayStation game or something. And the first time I put the headset on and saw the animation, I thought, this must be a joke," King recalled.

The virtual world has helped King return to the real Manhattan. The Long Island resident now sees plays at Lincoln Center.

"The reality is, it’s amazing," King said.

[The virtual reality work at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center is supported by Pfizer, Inc., Dell Computers, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Paul Allen Foundation donation to Harborview Burn Center in Seattle.]