Real Life Avatars?

In an article posted be the New York Times, reacher's are coming out with new technology called Cybertherapy. This new form of therapy, is designed to help people who have gone through difficult experiences or are in need of a professional to talk to, with out actually having to sit down and talk to them. This is being tested a on veterans who suffer from PTSD, for most, it is hard to sit down with a stranger and talk about their feelings and what bothers them about the traumatic experiences they went through over seas. So by using Cybertherapy it allows them to rein act the experiences they have been though, by putting them back in the "war" mentality as well as simulating a "war" environment. Then they talk to a cyber therapist on the screen about what they just saw and went through on the simulation. Experts say this is proven to be very effective and that it is easier for people to talk to the cyber therapist then it is for people to talk to a "real life" therapist mostly because they don't feel like they are being judged and the cyber therapist can look how ever the person controlling it wants it to look. For example if they are dealing with a veteran the cybertherapist can be dressed in army fatigues and be the color or race of the person they are dealing with, or if your dealing with a young girl with an eating disorder the cybertherspist can look like a young girl with the same color or race. This allows the individual to feel more comfortable and be able to open up easier. Cybertherarpy is also being used to help cure people of there fears and phobias by simulating what bothers them and having them confront those fears in a controlled situation to hopefully allow them to be able to overcome their particular fear.

I think this was a very interesting article, and great tool to help people who are in need of therapy, i think it will allow more people to be open and honest without feeling uncomfortable.