{
  "id": 3588091,
  "title": "Innovative virtual reality treadmill therapy offers relief for treatment-resistant PTSD",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/26/innovative-virtual-reality-treadmill-therapy-offers-relief-for",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-26T20:00:06.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/innovative-virtual-reality-treadmill-therapy-offers-relief-for-treatment-resistant-ptsd/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent Canadian study involving military veterans, public safety personnel, and healthcare workers revealed that 3MDR therapy, a novel virtual reality treadmill treatment, effectively reduced symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety. This innovative psychotherapy merges exposure therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), walking, and immersive virtual environments to assist patients in confronting and processing traumatic memories. Participants underwent 10-14 weeks of 3MDR treatment at Edmonton Operational Stress Injury Clinic or one of three clinical research sites, with improvements persisting 12 months after the treatment concluded. Among the 48 participants, 22 had treatment-resistant PTSD, highlighting the therapy's potential for individuals who have not responded well to conventional therapies. The study, led by Matthew Robert Graham Brown and Phillip R. Sevigny, suggests 3MDR as a promising treatment for PTSD, particularly in cases where avoidance or limited response to conventional therapy is common. While the study did not include a control group, the authors anticipate that a natural waitlist control group would emerge due to scheduling delays, which did not occur in this case. This limitation leaves some uncertainty about the extent to which the reported improvements are due to the treatment and not other factors.",
  "summary": "A new study shows that 3MDR therapy—which combines treadmill walking, virtual reality, and eye movement tasks—significantly reduces PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms in military veterans, first responders, and healthcare workers for up to a year.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}