The Application of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy in the Treatment of PTSD Among Firefighters

This study investigates the application of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) in the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among firefighters. Firefighters frequently encounter severe traumatic events due to their exposure to various disasters and accidents, resulting in a high prevalence of PTSD. We designed and developed a system that can effectively simulate the stressful scenes firefighters encounter during daily fire rescue operations, providing immersive experiences of stimuli such as fires, explosions, collapses, impacts, and exposure to corpses. Through this system, we carried out a clinical trial of VRET in relieving the symptoms of PTSD in firefighters, which was a single group of pre-and post-control test, including four male firefighters who had participated in a large cold-storage fire rescue operation, all of the participants underwent a 5-week VRET treatment. The results indicated a significant reduction in PTSD symptoms post-treatment, with an average decrease of 26.9% in PCL-5 scores and 32.6% in SCL-90 scores, alongside improvements in sleep quality, which demonstrated the potential of VRET in treating PTSD among firefighters. Further research is needed to determine the wider use of this method and to determine whether it is superior to other established PTSD treatments among firefighters. In the follow-up work, VRET should be integrated with biofeedback technology to enhance personalized treatment efficacy.