Beyond symptom self report: use of a computer "avatar" to assess post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms
Abstract Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur in the wake of exposure to a traumatic event. Currently, PTSD symptoms are assessed mainly through self report in the form of questionnaire or clinical interview. Self report has inherent limitations, particularly in psychiatric populations who may have limited awareness of deficit, reduced attention span, or poor vocabulary and/or literacy skills. Diagnosis and evaluation of treatment efficacy would be aided by behavioral measures. A viable alternative may be virtual environments, in which the participant guides an on screen "avatar" through a series of onscreen events meant to simulate real world situations. Here, a sample of 82 veterans, self assessed for PTSD symptoms was administered such a task, in which the avatar was confronted with situations that might evoke avoidant behavior, a core feature of PTSD. Results showed a strong correlation between PTSD symptom burden and task performance; in fact, the ability to predict PTSD symptom burden based on simple demographic variables (age, sex, combat exposure) was significantly improved by adding task score as a predictor variable. The results therefore suggest that virtual environments may provide a new way to assess PTSD symptoms, while avoiding at least some of the limitations associated with symptom self report, and thus might be a useful complement to questionnaire or clinical interview, potentially facilitating both diagnosis and evaluation of treatment efficacy.
Stress