Treating Emotional Trauma with XR and AI

War is perhaps one of the most challenging situations that a human being can experience. The physical, emotional, cognitive and psychological demands of a combat environment place enormous stress on even the best-prepared military personnel. In 2004, numerous reports suggested that the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were having a significant impact on the mental health of deployed Service Members and Veterans (Hoge et al., 2004). This situation helped motivate efforts to better develop and disseminate evidence-based treatments for PTSD and related psychological health conditions.

In response, the USC BRAVEMIND Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) system was developed and has since demonstrated positive outcomes in treating combat-related PTSD. BRAVEMIND supports controlled, repeated exposure to trauma-related cues to promote habituation and emotional processing, consistent with extinction-based models of exposure therapy.

The talk will address key design, development, and dissemination challenges, highlight lessons learned about reducing barriers to care and supporting efficacy across diverse populations, and close with a brief look at how AI-enabled Virtual Human support agents may extend care beyond the therapy office.