A Guide to Virtual Reality Therapy
For a long time, mental health care has relied on medications, face-to-face therapies, and support groups where everyone shares their challenges and how they overcame them. These approaches had their benefits, but since virtual reality therapy has arrived, it has opened new ways to address and cure mental health issues.
According to WHO’s research, there was a dramatic increase of 25% in depression and anxiety cases in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, suicide-related deaths increased by 7.2 percent compared to the previous year, with a total of 164,033 suicides for 2021.
Over 150 million people need help, while only 30% ask for help. Old stigma and myths around mental health, such as the fear of being judged, lack of knowledge, and a lack of professional mental health experts, are holding people back who need help.
Therapists in India are exploring virtual reality therapy to help more and more people engage more effectively.
VR therapy may not replace the traditional treatments for mental health problems but it’s an additional treatment for deep impact. In this article, we’ll learn about virtual reality therapy, how it works, its applications, benefits, costs, and when you need it. So, let’s explore how it can revolutionize the mental healthcare industry.
What is Virtual Reality Therapy?
As the name suggests, virtual reality therapy is a method of curing health issues by treating patients in a virtual environment. Users wear VR headsets to dive into the virtual world for treatment. The virtual world presents different scenarios in virtual settings that are difficult to recreate in the real world. The scenarios might be too frightening or dangerous for the users as they bring their phobias up, but at the same time, they don’t cause any physical harm.
Therapists use VR to let clients simulate real-world challenges, relive an experience from the past, or assist clients in overcoming the fears they have in a controlled setting.
The fundamental idea of VR therapy is creating a secure environment where people can confront their fears, deal with emotions, and develop coping strategies.
How does Virtual Reality Therapy work?
Imagine a man walking towards a subway. As he climbs down the escalator, his heartbeat rises, but he continues. He buys a ticket and gets onto the train, where he can see other passengers chatting in small groups or seated quietly. If his anxiety gets high as the doors close, the counselor’s instructions can help him calm down.
Here, the therapist’s voice is real but the train and people are not. They are part of the virtual world presenting a real-life situation.
Psychologists have been using VR for a long time now to help tackle phobias such as the fear of traveling on planes and trains and also to treat a variety of mental health concerns. Though not better than traditional therapy in all cases and for all patients. However, it has proved to be more effective in treating some mental health issues.
VR therapy allows users to play and practice scenarios safely to teach them skills, reduce fears, and boost their confidence. VR also helps them process an event that occurred in the past and re-deal with them. By removing real risks, VR can make frightening things seem less overwhelming.
VR Therapy Applications:
Since VR therapy has shown promising results in treating various health issues, it will soon have a huge positive impact on the healthcare industry. Here are some health areas where therapists can use virtual reality therapy:
Phobias
Virtual reality therapy is an effective treatment for people suffering from phobias and fear of going to certain places or being in certain situations. VR therapy for phobias involves exposing someone to the things they are afraid of in manageable, small steps.
Therapists can use exposure therapy in real life, too, but it’s challenging to accomplish and may not be safer. For instance, fear of animals can cause danger to someone interacting with them.
VR opens up the possibilities for exposure therapy. Someone with a fear of airplanes can experience flying through VR, deal with their fear, and develop coping techniques. VR therapy method has helped in the majority of phobias, including riding on airplanes and trains, animal phobias, and the fear of blood or injection.
PTSD
Exposure therapy can help with PTSD. Controlled exposure to a traumatic event can be challenging. However, it’s safe under a therapist’s proper care and supervision.
The virtual world creates specific scenarios and environments related to the person’s trauma. The patients can work through their emotions throughout the setting and cope with the situation. Through the process, VR therapy reduces PTSD symptoms, and the benefits last longer.
Addiction Treatment
Therapists also use VR therapy to help patients overcome addiction. Through the simulation of situations that trigger their cravings for drugs, patients can test their emotion control and practice coping strategies to deal with their addiction.
Social & Emotional Skills
The user can work on various emotional and social abilities with the help of VR therapy. For instance, they can work on clashes with their partner or awkward situations they face at work. It lets them practice new skills under the supervision of a psychotherapist.
Depression and Anxiety
VR therapy can help people understand mental health, visualize CBT techniques, and learn self-compassion. The virtual world can also offer virtual nature walks with soothing music and visuals to produce calm and tranquility. This therapy can mimic other therapies like gardening or animal-assisted therapies to cure depression and anxiety.
Motor Movement with Less Pain
Virtual reality rehabilitation can improve a patient’s limb movement by helping them with exercises. When patients are in a virtual environment, their focus does not shift toward physical pain as it does in physical therapy.
Since patients feel less physical pain while in the virtual world, they can improve movement and flexibility faster.
Virtual Reality Therapy Benefits:
Enhanced Immersion
Traditional therapy cannot reproduce real-world scenarios while assuring safety like virtual reality therapy, making it difficult for patients to participate fully.
VR therapy provides an unbelievably realistic experience and complete immersion, allowing patients to experience situations more realistically. This is among the most notable advantages of virtual reality therapy.
Safe Environments
VR therapy creates a safe environment where patients can confront their fears without being exposed to any real danger. Also, therapists can easily monitor the patient’s heart rate and nervous control throughout the session. The controlled environment allows therapists to control the exposure level and gradually increase the difficulty as the patient improves.
Personalized Treatment
VR therapy lets therapists create scenarios for each patient’s specific needs and trauma. Suppose it’s fear of public speaking, heights, or restricted areas. In that case, the therapists can customize VR environments to mimic the triggers in a precise manner.
When You Need VR Therapy & How to Find It?
If a mental health problem is impacting your relationships, life quality, or overall well-being, you should seek professional help. Things are worse if one is thinking of self-harm or suicide; in that case, please don’t wait to reach out for help.
VR therapy can also help you if you have some specific fears or phobias or if you face problems dealing with regular situations like riding trains or airplanes.
Find a licensed psychotherapist that offers virtual reality therapies and has a good track record. Therapist directories and search engines can help you with this; you can also look for online reviews for their clinic.
How Much Does VR Therapy Cost?
The cost of virtual reality therapy depends on factors like treatment types, the intensity of the issue, the therapist’s experience and expertise, and the VR devices they use.
In India, some offer VR therapies ranging from Rs 1,000 for follow-up appointments to Rs 3,000 for a half-hour marital therapy session.
To give you a rough idea, VR therapy in India can cost between Rs 500 and Rs 5,000 per session.
Conclusion:
Virtual reality therapy uses virtual reality to recreate various scenarios that can help people learn new skills and confront their fears in a secure setting. At first, therapists used VR to treat fears, but with time, therapists are now using VR to treat various disorders.
VR is an excellent choice for exposure therapy since it provides a safe space for trying out things that are difficult to recreate and dangerous in real life. But, like any other therapy, please consult an experienced and licensed therapist.
As VR technologies are constantly developing, the future of VR therapy is full of hopes. The advancements in haptic feedback, biometric sensors, and eye-tracking can enhance the authenticity and efficacy of VR experiences.
Further, the possible applications of VR therapy are not limited just to cure anxiety, PTSD, and depression. Clinicians and researchers are exploring ways to use VR therapy to treat other mental health disorders like eating disorders, addiction, and autism-related disorders.