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The latest development in art therapy is virtual reality video gaming! The patient isn't the artist. A graphic artist creates a visual world for the patient to experience. The therapist controls the scenarios which the patient goes through, from safe ones to increasingly traumatic ones. This new hi-tech therapy system combines animated graphics with sounds, smells and a chair that can rock the subject as though he or she is in a vehicle. The object is to guide the patient toward reliving a traumatic experience, but in a safe environment, to help overcome his or her problems. Researchers at the University of Southern California have used this new system to help US soldiers returned from Iraq overcome post-traumatic stress disorder. (Nearly one in eight US soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan report some symptoms of PTSD.) Initial results on a small group of volunteers look promising. It will be interesting to see how this new field of art therapy develops.

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