Health CRISIS: Virtual Reality can be used to treat almost ‘EVERY’ mental health condition
The groundbreaking revelation was made by British start-up Oxford VR’s co-founder Daniel Freeman. The company, which is looking to use virtual technology as a cheap and innovative means to supplement traditional therapy techniques, told Express.co.uk that VR is applicable to “pretty much every mental health condition”. Dr Freeman explained: “I think VR is applicable to pretty much every mental health condition, with a few exceptions.
“It has been most researched to date with the treatment of anxiety disorders.
“But, at Oxford VR, we’re working on treatments for depression and OCD and for people with conditions such as schizophrenia.
“So we think where there are already very good therapies for particular disorders VR can take on board many of those lessons and, potentially in some places, add elements to it too.”
Co-partner Jason Freeman warned that one in four people will develop a diagnosable psychological condition over the next year.
He said: “We know that there’s a crisis in mental health.
“We know that around one in four people will experience a diagnosable psychological disorder over the next year.
“And we also know that there are many very effective psychological therapies for those disorders.
“So what we want to do, and we think VR is a particularly potent way of doing this, is to make those really effective treatments available to as many people as we can using immersive technologies.”
One of the most successfully treated ailments was acrophobia, or fear of heights.
Having built a VR scenario of a shopping mall in which the patient ascends in a lift gradually higher and performs tasks at incrementally greater heights, Oxford VF found that all participants in the 100-strong trial group showed a reduction in fear of heights, with the average reduction being 68.0%.
Half of the participants in the VR group had a reduction in fear of heights by over three quarters.
Oxford VR claims that these results are better than those expected with the best psychological intervention delivered face to face with a therapist.
In England, 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health problem (such as anxiety and depression) in any given week.
The overall number of people with mental health problems has not changed significantly in recent years, but worries about things like money, jobs and benefits can make it harder for people to cope.
It appears that how people cope with mental health problems is getting worse as the number of people who self-harm or have suicidal thoughts is increasing.
If you are experiencing any of these issues, you can call the Samaritans 24/7 helpline on 116 123.
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