Virtually Treating Mental Health By David Evans Bailey There is a new form of therapy taking hold in the field of mental health. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is well known for affecting many military personnel who have been to the battlefield. But this disorder can also happen to anyone who has been subjected to high levels of anxiety or stress. Traditional treatments have, up until now, been psychotherapy or drugbased. Drugs particularly may mask the symptoms but perhaps never really
provide a cure, and some can have detrimental side effects. However, with the advent of accessible immersive virtual reality, things have changed. A new form of therapy called VRET or Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy is being tried. The theory behind VRET is that by exposing the person to circumstances that approximate the situation that caused them stress, they will gradually lose their fear of it and learn to confront it. The goal is to be able to start to live a normal life without avoiding things or places that remind the person of their fear. With
soldiers this would mean putting them back into a scenario containing stuff, like helicopters, encountered in combat but this time in virtual reality. The technology immerses them in that scene and to some degree makes them part of it. The good thing is that the risks of a real combat scenario are no longer present and they can come out of it whenever they want by taking off the headset. Trials and studies have indicated good results so far and a reduction in PTSD symptoms for those who have undergone VRET.
