TRAUMATISED British soldiers could be sent to "Virtual Iraq" to help them recover. Reading University believes war zone veterans are helped by reliving their experiences in a computer-generated combat zone.

The aim is to get them to confront and overcome their fears in a controlled virtual reality environment. The virtual Iraq simulation, developed first at the University of Southern California (USC)but now being put into practice at Reading, is designed as part of an exposure therapy programme which allows soldiers suffering post-traumatic stress disorder to relive and confront psychological trauma – and it has produced promising results for the first handful of patients treated.

Professor Paul Sharkey, a Director of the University of Reading's Visualisation Centre has been working with Professors Albert "Skip" Rizzo and Jarrell Pair from the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. Vets can either wear helmet which recreate the sights, smells, sounds and jolts of the battlefield or enter a small virtual reality room which recreated the events leading to their trauma at Reading's Visualisation Centre.

The focus of the research at Reading will be to replace the use of headsets or helmets – which in themselves can induce trauma because they remind vets of combat helmets – with the virtual reality room. The headsets project computer game-like battlefield images on to their eyes. For extra realism, the vibration of a vehicle or concussion from a bomb blast can be simulated. The sounds, and even smells, of the war zone are also added.

The therapy, piloted last year, has already produced significant improvements in four US soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. Professor Sharkey said: "While the initial phase of the project will be focused on the display technologies, it is hoped that this will lead to pilot studies with therapists and psychologists to test the efficacy of the approach as a tool for therapy."An MoD spokesman added: "It is early research and further results will be examined by our specialists."

In "Virtual Iraq", soldiers with PTSD get over mental blocks by facing their fears in a gradual process. Each soldier tells their story while a therapist supplies sights, sounds, sensations and smells. They include driving a military vehicle along a desert road, moving towards the scene of an explosion, flying over a bombed town or facing a masked fighter with a gun. There is also a "smell machine" that can produce eight odours including cordite, diesel fuel, burning rubber, Middle Eastern spices, and cooked lamb. In Iraq, a lot of cooking is done outside and soldiers have reported the smell of roasting lamb in the streets. Dr Skip Rizzo, of the University of Southern California, who helped develop the treatment, said: "After a while, the person treats it as if they are really there."  

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