Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for PTSD

Using virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) for treating anxiety disorders and phobias is becoming increasingly less costly and more available for consumption nowadays. Therefore testing them currently for clinical trials allows enhancing the psychological treatments and their accessibility in the near future.

Although Virtual Reality exposure therapy is a relatively new concept, the data is promising, adding significant results to the patients observed by focusing on exposure therapy with the tools of immersive media.

By recreating the emotional experiences the individual has faced during the time the traumatic event took place, there will be a collection of data regarding the effect of the immersion, the anxiety/phobia triggering or decline, the duration of the overall anxiety decline and incline. Understanding the possible therapeutic effects of immersive media on anxiety disorders could offer an alternative mediated treatment for stress-related psychopathologies by:

1. Allowing the patient to have easier access to treatment.

The number of individuals developing such anxiety disorders is currently growing rapidly. There is a high demand in trained professionals, such as psychologists and psychiatrists that will assist in treating such disorders. Replacing parts of the treatment with immersive media could possibly allow an easier access to a set treatment program of reducing the negative symptoms of stress disorders. 

2. Reaching a stabilized mental state in a shorter period of time. 

Exposure therapy is proven in previous research to have a stronger affect on patients when compared to imaginal exposure, especially in treating specific phobias. In vivo exposure therapy through the creation of a virtual environment allows the patient to engage in a more immediate manner with the stress object or fear stimuli and process the emotions by confronting them ‘face-to-face’.Virtual reality systems are becoming increasingly less costly and more available for consumption therefore testing them currently for clinical trials will allow enhancing the psychological treatments in the near future and design a more affective platform for psychopathologies. 

A staggering 70% of the adults in U.S. have experiences some type of post traumatic stress event, an estimated 24.4 million people in U.S have PTSD and 1/9 women develops PTSD at some point in their life.

This is a psychological and neurological disorder that is associated with increase of suicidal rates, aggression, violence, and severe decrease in productivity. The national institute of Mental Health concluded in a recent research that patients suffering from PTSD have a reduced posterior hippocampus, which is associated with storage, processing and retrieval of memories. This affects patient's mental health and overall functioning in society.

Virtual reality exposure therapy is a form of PTSD therapy that combines immersive technology and emotional storytelling and can be a treatment option in today’s digital generation where VR is growing rapidly. By recreating trauma relevance scenarios it can work as a tool to assist patients confront and process their stressors in a controlled environment. This also allows control of the pace the patient can handle as it differs from imagining the stressful event. Going back to the memory that has traumatized the patient allows confronting the stressor and repeating this over time allows a gradual decline in fear response. 

As psychological therapy in many countries, even the developed ones, is not affordable and requires trained personnel to handle each patient for long periods of time, this solution can provide and alternative treatment that works more efficiently (faster results) and does not require strictly the help of a psychologist. Making this treatment accessible in many health centers or hospitals can allow faster access to treatment in order to improve the mental state of the patients. The main target is to make this platform available in different hospitals and to improve the VR platform to recreate many different stressful scenarios.

Communicate with existing research facilities that are developing initial stages of VRET - Develop further existing Virtual Reality Exposure therapy platforms designed for Veterans to fit other stressful scenarios (sexual trauma, abuse, bullying etc.)

Key locations in EU and USA are selected and bonds between local hospitals and technologically advanced universities start to emerge to further develop the plaform - Develop bonds between health centers and hospitals with Research centers and Universities in order to pilot the VRET with existing PTSD patients

The final version of the VRET shows positive results to a large group of PTSD cases and gets proposed for support by the World Health Organization in order to become available for use in key locations in EU and USA - The Virtual reality exposure therapy becomes available in 5.000 hospitals in USA and EU

Immersive media has recently become a more active part of everyday life and becomes increasingly integrated to the needs of society. Virtual reality, although proven to have a great affect on PTSD patients, is still not an option for treatment. Making available to larger audiences a treatment that allows the patient to immerse into the stressful scenario is a unique way to face the fear stimuli and build resistance to the PTSD affects. Virtual reality is a unique approach to psychological treatment of PTSD patients as most therapy options entails cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy (memory recreation), and medication.

Posttraumatic stress disorder affects a great number of people and in many cases treatment is not available or might be delayed. This can have severe effects on an individual’s mental state and in some cases leads to brining the patient to an acute PTSD state for extended periods of time which can also lead to suicide. Offering alternative treatment options that can be provided more frequently and decline faster the PTSD symptoms will ultimately affect the life of many patients that are at risk while waiting to be assigned a therapist. 

Making this platform ready-to-use in hospitals and health centers can be an affordable option for PTSD patients. Completing sessions of treatment in VR environments will require less frequent consultation with a psychologist and can be moderated by regular medical personnel. This allows a greater number of patients to have frequent therapy sessions that guarantees therapeutic results and it is a more affordable option due to its digital nature.