Darpa, the Pentagon’s wild science division, is known for its shapeshifting robots, its telepathic monkeys, and its zombie pigs. Now, they’re trying to tackle something more down to Earth: online counseling for PTSD.
The psychological toll of war is going underdiagnosed among today’s troops; experts cite access and stigma as the two major barriers to effective treatment. But the Pentagon’s also bogged down with rising healthcare costs, which now account for 9 percent of their annual budget.
How to offer more effective care and do it on the cheap? The same agency that laid the foundations for the Internet thinks the web can do the job. Darpa’s requesting proposals for a new project, “Healing Hands,” that’ll act as an online portal for telehealth services, message forums and referrals for everything from yoga classes to family physicians. And they want the project to zero in on depression, PTSD and the psychological impact of traumatic brain injuries.
“Online resources and activities, interactive media, and social networking have great potential to supplement and enhance traditional healthcare options,” the Darpa solicitation reads. That could be particularly true for ailing troops, many of whom opt out of psychological treatment because of associated stigma.
It’s a worthwhile pursuit, of course. But Darpa usually pursues projects that are much more ambitious than the military version of WebMD. Is this what a blue-sky research agency is supposed to do? And are these really the best brains to run an online counseling effort? The VA already has a comprehensive healthcare web hub. Darpa’s program will also include active duty troops, but it’s unclear — aside from “avatar-based simulation, virtual environments, serious games [and] web comics” — how the agency’s blue-sky ethos will yield much innovation.
And while telehealth is being touted as the cheaper, more efficient healthcare system of the future, it isn’t without disadvantages. For one, telehealth is indisputably impersonal — one of the biggest downsides experts and doctors cite is a breakdown of patient-practitioner communication, which can curb quality of care and make it harder for a doctor or therapist to offer accurate diagnoses.
The initiative would no doubt give war-fighters, thousands of whom are in dire need of psychiatric help, a new way to get it. But assuming it attracts more troops, Healing Hands might also reveal just how bad the military’s healthcare crisis is — and how much more money the Pentagon needs to combat it. Darpa notes that the health mecca will allow docs to “[be alerted] to individuals who may have emerging physical and psychological health crises,” and track trends in the diagnoses of post-deployment ills like PTSD, depression and substance abuse.
[Photo: U.S National Guard]
- Online PTSD program: Less Stigma, More Twitter?
- Pentagon’s New PTSD Treatments: Wireless Monitors, Software Pals …
- Neuroscientists Say Brain Scans Can Spot PTSD
- Military’s Plan for PTSD: Early Diagnosis Good, Prevention Better …