Finally, VR is actually worth using.
Virtual Reality(VR) is being used to treat Posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychedelic phobias/disorders.
An article by the New York Times magazine states that there has been a boom in the popularity of VR therapy to treat people who are suffering from phobias and disorders.
Many thanks to the falling cost of VR headsets, this kind of therapy practice is found to be a breakthrough in the field of psychology.
Prolonged Exposure(PE) therapy is a specific type of behavioral therapy that puts the patients face to face with their trauma-related memories.
First developed by Edna Foa and Israeli professor of clinical psychology:
In this process, patients describe their traumatic memories in detail to their therapist. The therapist then asks the patient to confront their fears in the real world. Like if your afraid of public speaking, get on a stage and start speaking something that’s how you overcome your fears.
With VR therapists are able to recreate their traumatic events easily. If a person has a fear of war zones or bombing we can’t expect them to go to a war zone and fight to overcome their fears so VR comes into play in those kinds of situations.
NYT also quotes that “VR therapy in the future and is likely to replace another kind of therapiesâ€
And because of the availability of VR headsets to common people, some small-scale therapists are concerned that patients may try it out for themselves at home, only to see no benefit — a therapist talking you out of the traumatic event is completely different.
A study in Iraq involving 20 veterans suffering from Posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD) was exposed to VR therapy. After the session, thanks to VR therapy 16 of them no longer met the criteria for Posttraumatic stress disorder.
VR therapy just goes beyond treating PTSD, a recent study involving front-line nurses found that using VR simulates mindful meditation exercises in tranquil(Calm) settings produced noticeable reductions in stress.
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