Youth designs chamber to manage traumatic stress

IN a bid to address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSD), a young designer has created and fabricated a sanctuary that one can retreat into during moments of panic.

Kartikaye Mittal, 32, who holds a master's degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute in New York, has designed the prototype called Reboot.

Mittal employed his knowledge of design and engineering, and combining it with his research in psychotherapy and wellness.

‘Reboot is a collapsible chamber that can be used by survivors of PTSD in moments of panic and is intended to be installed in university campuses, hospitals, airports, malls, and other crowded places,' according to the statement.

The chamber alters sensory stimuli and creates an environment in which the person can manage one's emotions without disturbance, distraction or aggravation.

It gives the user a personal space to retreat into when needed, to practice the therapeutic exercise prescribed by his or her therapist, to meditate, or just be, it said.

Before designing the mind-blowing structure, Kartikaye visited PTSD support groups in New York City and consulted psychotherapists as part of his research for Reboot.

He discovered that in a trauma-survivor, panic may be triggered at any point in time, especially when in a public place, where one doesn't have immediate access to his or her therapist.

The drive to empower the user made him build several models, experimenting with material, size, shape, and color.

The telescoped space is five feet wide, 7.5 feet high, and depth extendable to four feet. The chamber collapses to merely 15 inches and can be instantly extended when necessary.