Innovative Virtual Reality Therapy and its applications

An innovative therapy that has already reported effectiveness in cases of anxiety and depression.

Nowadays, depression and anxiety disorders have become the most common mental disorders in our society. Over the years, different methodologies have been proposed to address their treatment. One of the most recent is the Virtual Reality Therapy.

This form of therapy allows to relive situations in a virtual way, so that patients safely experience different problematic situations. Research data show positive results with only a few treatment sessions.

Virtual Reality Therapy for the Treatment of Depression

A study conducted by University College London (UCL) and the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) suggests that virtual reality therapy (VRT) may become a form of treatment for depression in the future. may become a form of treatment for depression in the future.. The research was conducted with 15 subjects suffering from a depressive disorder. The participants ranged in age from 23 to 61 years, and the results were positive in 60% of the cases.

As the cost of hardware has become cheaper and its functionality has increased, studies in this line of research have increased in recent years. Even so, until now, few had treated depression as they focused on anxiety disorders. The research conducted by UCL and ICREA used techniques that had already been shown to be effective in other forms of therapy, such as Post Traumatic Stress Therapy.

For this research and after fitting the virtual reality helmet to the study participants, the treatment began with the patient observing his or her own body in a mirror. This elicited the embodiment or illusion that the avatar (virtual identity) was their own body. The patients were then asked to show compassion for a distressed child. After taking care of him, he stopped crying and responded positively. Afterwards, the image changed perspective (to the child's view) and the child saw (i.e., the subjects) an adult saying his own words and gestures.

The importance of self-compassion

This 8-minute scenario was repeated on three occasions over a three-week period. Of the participating subjects, 9 out of 15 showed a significant reduction in depressive symptomatology.. However, although the results are positive, the lack of a control group means that further research is needed to confirm these results.

Dr. Chris Brewin, director of the study and professor of psychiatry, explains, "Self-compassion is important because it calms feelings of distress, because otherwise the distress can take over and it is really unbearable." The author, adds, "We now know that many patients with depression and other disorders have real problems being compassionate toward themselves, although they are often very good at being compassionate toward others."

Virtual Reality Therapy for Anxiety Treatment

Virtual reality therapy has not only been shown to be effective for the treatment of depression, but for the treatment of anxiety it has long been used.

There are several companies that have begun to include it as one of their services, because it has been shown to be effective in different anxiety disorders, especially for the treatment of phobias. it has shown its effectiveness in different anxiety disorders, especially in the treatment of phobias.. For example, it is possible to recreate through virtual reality the environment of an airplane while flying. It has also been shown to be effective in helping with public speaking.

This technique has also been used for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients, who suffer from this condition due to a sexual assault, a car accident or a terrorist attack, such as the attack that occurred on September 11 in the United States, in which thousands of people were affected. The researchers state that, in addition, it has also has also shown effectiveness with eating disorders or alcoholism.. The idea is that when a person is in a safe, three-dimensional environment, they can cope with the problem or anxiety-provoking people more effectively.

VRT helps the patient to cope safely with difficult emotions.

One of the foremost experts in the application of this technique is Skip Rizzo, director of virtual reality research in medicine at the Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California. "When you're talking about traumatic experiences like living through war or sexual assault, these are events that will change someone for life," Rizzo explains. "We're not creating digital violations here. Our goal is to get a person closer to coping with hard emotions in a safe way," he adds.

So, Is Virtual Reality Therapy the future of psychology? Time will tell.