For our Prototyping User Experiences class taught by Robert Fabricant, Josh Musick, and Clay Wiedemann from Frog Design, the theme throughout the semester was personal informatics. I chose to focus on stress, and particularly Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the military.

PTSD is caused by deeply stored memories from traumatic experiences, leading to symptoms of flashbacks, nightmares, aggression, and depression. Troops deployed to battle often experience traumatic events, and through ongoing wars PTSD and suicides in the US Military have been skyrocketing.


Traumatic events are stored as visuospatial, sensory-perceptual memories (We remember what we saw and sensed in a space), which the brain consolidates over six hours. Research has shown it is possible to disrupt this memory consolidation by giving the user visuospatial, sensory-perceptual tasks to perform within six hours of the traumatic event. These tasks overload the brain and hamper the memory storage process, thus reducing subsequent flashbacks and nightmares. There are various treatments for advanced PTSD, but few early preventative measures in this vein.


For user research, I conducted several interviews with military service members to learn about their habits and situations during deployment and on their return home.




Taking into account the neurochemistry of disrupting memory consolidation and the common tasks and hobbies of deployed troops, I created the Post-Traumatic Stress Relief (PTSR) system. PTSR involves an immersive headset capable of spherical vision and sound, and a media platform of recorded events, games, and updatable personal environments for family and friends to stay in touch.


The headset can record 3D space.


Friends and family can visit recorded places and geotag updated media for the military service member to see while deployed.


Events can be recorded on 360 degree interactive cameras (Immersive Media) for troops to enjoy shortly after.


Compatible with video games.


I prototyped the experience by using a Nintendo Wii Remote to simulate head tracking, allowing users to look around full spherical environments in any direction.


I also presented to Dr. Michael Kramer, a clinical psychologist using Virtual Reality (VR) for PTSD treatment at the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Manhattan. I learned about the most empirically effective method for treating PTSD currently — Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT with VR involves recreating the scene of the trauma virtually, allowing the patient to revisit the event in a controlled environment and gradually come to terms with their past. Dr. Kramer found my idea fascinating because it is using immersive media in the opposite way — by showing unrelated events to disrupt traumatic memories. He gave excellent feedback and the project may continue in the future, time permitting.