Walden University ScholarWorks Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection 2020 Experiences of PTSD Sufferers Who Participate in Internet-Based Virtual World Activities in Desktop Virtual Reality Environments Colleen Margaret Crary Walden University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations Part of the Psychology Commons This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection at ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Walden University College of Social and Behavioral Sciences This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation by Colleen M. Crary has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the review committee have been made. Review Committee Dr. Edoardo Naggiar, Committee Chairperson, Psychology Faculty Dr. Hedy Dexter, Committee Member, Psychology Faculty Dr. Bonnie Nastasi, University Reviewer, Psychology Faculty Chief Academic Officer and Provost Sue Subocz, Ph.D. Walden University 2020 Abstract Experiences of PTSD Sufferers Who Participate in Internet-Based Virtual World Activities in Desktop Virtual Reality Environments by Colleen M. Crary BA, San Diego State University, 1994 MA, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2010 Dissertation Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Psychology Research Walden University August 2020 Abstract Treatments for posttraumatic stress have remained largely static for 3 decades, resulting in low recovery rates, high degrees of retrogression, and noncompliance by patients, calling for new approaches for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment.