What is the difference between using VR technology to treat mental illness and traditional therapy?

In the past few days, a "foreign boy's success in using virtual reality to make a successful marriage proposal" has been widely spread. Some people commented: Who said that virtual reality is useless, at least it helps others to propose marriage successfully.

In fact, virtual reality is promising in many fields.

Regardless of the thriving cultural and entertainment industry, or the widely used industry applications such as military industry, education, and medical care , the combination of VR and psychotherapy can also make technology not cold.

For people with mental illness or disorder, they are unwilling to face the real experience. Virtual reality can provide a bridge between psychologists and patients in psychotherapy, so that psychotherapy can be better carried out with the help of virtual reality.

1. What areas of VR are specifically used in psychotherapy?

An avatar (virtual person) in virtual reality is a sub-personality in the individual psychological reality. Virtual reality technology gives us a clear chance to play a sub-personality, even the opportunity to create a sub-personal personality and then play it. In turn, this sub-personal influences the thinking and behavior patterns in our real life, which is a matter of course. It is.

In terms of psychotherapy, VR technology is known for treating phobias, PTSD, etc., and has been expanding its application fields in recent years.

Self acceptance

Psychologists and computer scientists at University College London (UCL), the University of Barcelona in Spain, and the University of Derby in the United Kingdom have published a study that proposes a new approach to psychotherapy that promotes self-compassion – using virtual reality.

The specific case is called “incarnation experiment”. During the experiment, the subjects will be tested as a pacifier, a pacifier, and a third person. The results show that the process of reconciliation from the perspective of virtual children Women will become more sympathetic to themselves; at the same time, their level of self-criticism will be significantly reduced. Women who look back on the appeasement process in a third-person perspective will also reduce self-criticism, but rarely improve themselves in terms of self-compassion.

anxiety

The course of treatment achieved through virtual reality technology is that when a patient is diagnosed with a mental anxiety disorder, he or she is taken to a room equipped with virtual reality devices or communicates with a virtual person (meal, chat) ), or let sit in a very comfortable chair, open the device, and let the patient feel into a new, peaceful environment, such as the beach.

If the patient's anxiety is deep, and the light can't be released into the scenery, it needs the guidance of the psychiatrist, using the professional knowledge of the psychiatrist, transmitting the voice information to the patient through the virtual reality device, and matching the environment in the scene. Make psychological anxiety have a better therapeutic effect.

phobia

Putting people in the source of anxiety allows them to face the fears of the real world in the future. Such as fear of height, flight, animals (such as spiders), driving, claustrophobia, public speech phobia.

Post-traumatic stress disorder

For some veterans who have experienced war, virtual reality helmets can be used to treat severe traumatic sequelae. (also applies to other types of post-traumatic stress disorder, the principle is the same)

At some point, the patient should retrieve the memories stored in the depths of their minds and treat them with a new look. This will get out of the shadow of the wound.

This is the theoretical basis for the use of virtual reality devices for mental health.