Interview with Dr. Albert "Skip" Rizzo, renowned VR researcher at the USC Institute of Creative T... HD

In our Interview series with the movers and shakers of the 3D realm, we talk with Skip Rizzo about his research into using virtual reality technology in the study and treatment of trauma and PTSD; including the treatment of many of the veterans of the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars. CONTACT INFO: Albert “Skip” Rizzo, Ph.D. Director, Medical Virtual Reality - Institute for Creative Technologies Research Professor - Dept. of Psychiatry and School of Gerontology University of Southern California 12015 East Waterfront Dr., Playa Vista, CA. 90094 213-610-4737 rizzo@ict.usc.edu LINKS: ICT MedVR: http://medvr.ict.usc.edu/ http://www.youtube.com/user/AlbertSkipRizzo http://mentalhealthchannel.tv/episode/virtual-reality-therapy http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-03/26/patient-vr-uk-hospital BOOKS: Future Directions in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder http://www.springer.com/psychology/health+and+behavior/book/978-1-4899-7521-8 QUESTIONS: As you may have mentioned this in question 1, but in looking over your bio at the University of Southern California, it seems not only are you the director for Medical Virtual Reality, you are both a researcher at UC Davis in Gerontology and USC Keck school of medicine department of psychiatry & behavioral science. How do these more traditional fields compare? Or does VR open up a bigger door for use in these traditional areas of study? In my own investigation as well as the links you have sent me, you have done a great deal of talks and interviews on several topics using VR and computer imaging, How long have you been involved with VR and why were you attracted to it? In 2010 you won an award from the American Psychological Association for your contribution to the treatment of trauma, specifically PTSD. Now five years later, do you still feel as strongly about VR aiding those who may have PTSD symptoms? The US military called upon your services and I assume helped fund some of the research to assist in the treatment of PTSD sufferers of wartime infliction, namely Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact one of the reason I contacted you last week was due to the latest posts on the treatment of Chris Merkle in the video we played at the beginning of this interview. He describes how the VR experience helped him to express what he felt about that day. You discuss the concern about those who feel that you are just reintroducing them to the same traumatic experience, but Chris alluded to, that VR allows the environment be reintroduced in a "safe" manner. Is that the key to successful VR therapy, and are others doing similar research or using it in their practice? I noticed looking at the images on the web and in your papers, as well as your own profile image on Facebook, that you have used different VR technology over the years. Can you kind of take us down the tech memory lane of the types of VR equipment you have used over the last decade. (If you have anything to show on camera, that would be great. I will put to