James Yu pointed me in the direction of an extensive New Yorker article‘ about using a modified version of Full Spectrum Warrior to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s a form of Prolonged Exposure therapy, which means that negative responses are downgraded by repeated exposures to it. Basically. Very basically. Random quote from Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America: “I’m not someone who responds to sitting with some guy, talking about my whole life. I’m going to go in and talk to some dude who doesn’t understand my shit and talk about my mom? I’m the worst of that kind of guy. So V.R. therapy, maybe it will work. We’re a video-game generation. It’s what we grew up on. So maybe we’ll respond to it.”
