leslie straus plays a role of the drug. >> i will talk to them about how attractive i am, how i willake them feel good, how they can forget everything, how they can just be totally relaxed and feel good. >> you really expose them to the triggers that usually set their symptoms. the hope is eventually those symptoms will diminish. after a little while, this is good enough to forget that this is not real. >> so when you're sitting face to face with somebody and being an addict, you're used to lying, you're used to manipulating. doing the avatar program, you look at all those things. >> it just helped me to understand, like my triggers and why i -- like, why i was doing the things that i was doing. >> reporter: organizers say this is no different than any of the games that sega or electronic arts puts out, but they ask how many mummies can you kill in those games, this program here, they say, actually might help them save a real life. the clinic isn't saying avatars will replace face to face therapy, but they believe it will help keep patients out of the back of a police car and feel wh