At the University of California, where Michelle Craske is a psychiatry researcher, she and her colleagues tested whether virtual Reality can curb anhedonia: the inability to feel pleasure in normally pleasurable activities a common symptom of depression and other severe mental health conditions.
The researchers put patients into pleasant scenarios like strolling through a sun-soaked forest. At the same time, piano music plays or listening to silent songs and coaching them to pay close attention to the good parts by talking it through in immense detail as it helps better understand the person.
This idea is to help patients learn to plan positive activities, have positive thoughts, take part in them, and have benefits of the good feelings they bring as a positive vibe is very strong.
As one in four of us is expected to experience a mental health problem soon at any age or time, there should be an increase in access to treatment as it has become a necessity. But doing it is very challenging as well. Therapists require extensive training and a lot of effort to bring up the most effective forms of therapy that involve coaching patients every day, which is time-consuming and therefore costly.
Delivering psychological therapies in virtual Reality (V.R.) may provide a solution. Here are three ways V.R. could transform mental health treatment.
1. “In-situ” coaching
The most successful therapeutic interventions help people modify how they think, react, or behave in various situations as they find it most challenging to figure out. It could be anything from getting on a crowded bus to a social event or having a conversation to simply leaving the house or performing the simplest activities.
We often tend to remember information best when we’re in the same physical or mental state as when the memory was initially formed. This is known as state-dependent learning. For example, if we want anyone to remember, a technique that will help reduce their anxiety can help us instantly. At the same time, it’s generally best to visit a supermarket during the therapy session to train and practice the technique for food shopping.
V.R. environments create immersive simulations of real-world settings, allowing you to walk around, have fresh air and interact with the environment as if it were real. It feels good. You can enter or have conclusions about the situations you typically find challenging and learn psychological techniques to overcome and figure out your difficulties alongside a virtual or real-life therapist.
Importantly, even though we know the V.R. the environment is just a simulation, we can use it to respond in a corresponding real-world environment. Both psychologically and physiologically. However, any learning that’s made in V.R. transfers to the real world.
2. Flexibility
Not only is V.R.is more practical, but people are generally very willing to invest their time in virtual versions as it helps them find what is provoking their anxiety to know it’s only a simulation. It’s also easier to repeatedly try something that is too scary or maybe too embarrassing or a fear of being judged by people to try in the real world.
V.R. scenarios can also be graded in difficulty or even personalized for each person. In a V.R. study at the University of Oxford on treating fear of heights, participants began in the virtual atrium of a ten-story building and were then able to choose which floor to go to. The idea was to start practicing on the lower, less scary floors and work their way up as they became more confident.
V.R. is also allowed by the researchers to perform some of the scenarios more fun for participants or people having a difficult time – such as having tasks where you rescued a kitten or had to pop bubbles. This added flexibility in how participants could confront their fear or have self-talk, which may be one of the reasons why their reductions in fear of heights exceeded those seen in traditional exposure therapy.
3. Automation
Perhaps the most significant advantage of V.R. therapies that can be automated. This means that in V.R., there can be a virtual coach with you who explains the treatment and teaches some of the psychological techniques to try out, which might help.
For example, our team has analyzed and developed a virtual coach named Nic, used in our ongoing research into V.R. for mental health treatment. Nic encourages users and gives them ideas of psychological techniques to try during treatment.
Virtual coaches like Nic can work as therapists without a therapist being present at every V.R. session. Instead, a graduate psychologist or peer supporter can be a friend (such as someone who has lived through a similar kind of experience ) who can help us lead the sessions with the user; we can provide proper support and guidance alongside the virtual coach, which can be very helpful.
As there are many more graduate psychologists and peer supporters available than highly trained therapists, V.R. therapy can help ensure more people can access the treatment they may need without delay. V.R. treatment is also likely to be more affordable for the same reason.
Continuous improvements to V.R. hardware mean it’s becoming increasingly affordable and feasible to potentially use this technology in mental health services shortly to treat a range of conditions so far. While it turns out that it would never replace therapists, it could improve the number of people accessing therapy.
Also Read: Virtual Reality For Mental Health
