Review of “At War With PTSD: Battling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Virtual Reality"

Robert N. Mclay acknowledges that PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is one of the most difficult disorders to treat because it doesn’t show up on our most advanced medical tests, there’s no one treatment that works for everyone, and it’s often hard to convince people that PTSD exists.

 In “At War With PTSD: Battling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Virtual Reality, Mclay takes us through the emotionally raw journey of using virtual reality to treat soldiers with PTSD.

 Several of the early chapters are devoted to explaining PTSD through both psychological definitions, and personal stories that help illustrate the effects PTSD can have. 

There’s nothing terribly overpowering about the psychological lingo as Mclay writes in an easy to understand conversational manner.

Then he discusses the doubters of PTSD and the pitfalls of wanting to study virtual reality as a form of treatment for PTSD.

Perhaps most interesting was the sections where he discusses the competing companies who manufacture the virtual reality gear because I already figured that it might be difficult to get soldiers to accept the reality of PTSD.

The premise behind virtual reality for PTSD is that soldiers have suffered some trauma. Using virtual reality, we can create something that closely resembles this traumatic event and give the soldiers the opportunity to deal with it.

What I really liked was that Mclay does not portray himself as the god of PTSD, by illustrating that there is no perfect treatment for PTSD.

 I further appreciated that he remembered that the soldiers’ families have to deal with PTSD as well.

Overall, a thoughtful and cautious, yet hopeful, look into PTSD and virtual reality.

Iraq’s Continued Kurdish Question

The large Kurdish population in Iraq has been a subject of discussion and concern for the last twenty to thirty years at least.

 In the post Saddam Hussein Iraq, the Kurds have been granted a large degree of autonomy within the Iraqi state. Still, there are once again questions about the Kurds future in Iraq.

 The catalyst for these most recent tensions is the recently discovered oil within Kurdistan. Some leaders argue that there could be a split between Baghdad and Kurdish Iraq if disputes over oil revenue and power sharing are not resolved. The question I have is who needs who here?

Kurdistan is easily the most secure region of Iraq, as the central government in Baghdad struggles to maintain basic services. Iraq needs the oil revenue sharing with Kurdistan as it gives the government a major revenue stream.

Yet, I’m also not certain the Kurds can survive on their own given the difficulties they’ve had with neighboring Turkey.

 As far as I know, there’s no movement on the issue of creating a Greater Kurdistan with Kurds from Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. I therefore believe that the uneasy relationship between Kurdistan and Baghdad will have to continue for the good of both parties.