Poppy Brown, a Doctoral Researcher in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford wrote an interesting article about Virtual Reality. This article has been publish on the website of the the World Economic Forum. It discusses three ways in which VR could transform mental health treatment:
- “in-situ” coaching: focusing on creating immersive simulations of real world environments. It allows you to walk around and interact with the environment as if it was real. “You can enter the situations you typically find challenging, and learn psychological techniques to overcome your difficulties alongside a virtual or real-life therapist.”
- Flexibility: ”Not only is VR more practical, but people are generally more willing to enter virtual versionsof the situations they find anxiety-provoking because they know it’s only a simulation. It’s also easier to repeatedly try things out that are too scary or perhaps too embarrassing to try in the real world.”
- Automation: a significant advantage of VR therapies is that they can be automated. “This means that in VR there can be a virtual coach with you who explains the therapy and teaches you the psychological techniques to try out, such as the virtual coach named Nic. “Nic provides encouragement to users and gives them ideas of psychological techniques to try during treatment.”
You can read the full article and podcast via this weblink