Abstract of Halpern's Article

CLAIM
- New virtual reality simulators can help war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder who spent time in Iraq recover quicker from their symptoms than traditional therapy can.

STATEMENT OF CLAIM
- "If virtual-reality exposure therapy proves to be clinically validated - only preliminary results are available so far - it may be more than another tool in the therapists' kit: it may encourage those in need to seek help."

SUBCLAIMS
- By re-living the experience multiple times, the patient undergoing the treatment, over time, no longer finds these once-traumatic experiences to be anything out of the ordinary.
- Although it sounds cruel, the process is not harmful psychologically because the sessions are controlled by a trained therapist.
- Because results are so quick and dramatic, patients are motivated to continue the treatment.

SUPPORT
- (p. 119) "The idea is to disconnect the memory from the reactions to the memory, so that although the memory of the traumatic event remains, the everyday things that can trigger fear and panic ... are restored to insignificance."
- (p. 120) "Because the traumatic environment is produced in a computer graphics lab, and its elements are controlled by the therapist, virtual reality can nudge an imagination that is at once overactive and repressed."
- (p. 127) "It treats the core fear, the avoidance and the anxiety that are part of PTSD, in a potent way. VR augments the theraputic process. When the patients start to see results, usually by the fifth session, they turn the corner and get motivated."

WARRANTS
- Most readers are aware of at least the basics of virtual reality video games
- The general effects of PTSD caused by war are somewhat known to the public