Virtual reality isn’t just for video games or Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse fever dreams. It can also be used to treat mental health.
In a new study published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry on Tuesday, researchers conducted the largest ever clinical trial of VR therapy to treat patients dealing with psychosis and schizophrenia. The experiment was a part of gameChange, a program developed by the University of Oxford and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust that uses VR to treat agoraphobia, an intense fear of being outside that’s also a common symptom of psychosis.
Over the course of six weeks, patients donned a VR headset and participated in six 30-minute therapy sessions, plus traditional treatment (taking prescribed antipsychotic medication, receiving regular visits from a mental health worker, and visiting with a psychiatrist). They began each session in a virtual therapist’s office before transitioning to simulated outdoor scenarios such as waiting at a bus stop, visiting a cafe, or going to the doctors, to help them acclimate to and build confidence when entering new environments in real life.
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While the simulations are fairly realistic, the researchers said that its VR nature helped the patients feel more at ease and likelier to take risks with certain interactions.
“There’s a little bit of the conscious bit [of the brain] going: ‘OK, it’s OK, I know it’s not real and therefore I can persist, try something new and do something differently,’” Daniel Freeman, lead author of the study and professor of clinical psychology at the University of Oxford, told The Guardian.
“Basically, if you get over something in VR, you will get over in the real world,” he added.
Freeman and his team found that the experiment was an overall success for the program, leading to a large reduction of patients avoiding everyday, outside situations when compared to a parallel group of patients who only received traditional usual care therapy after six weeks. They also discovered that the patients who suffered from more intense agoraphobia saw the most improvement after treatment.
“After seven years of illness, I do feel so much better,” one patient said in a statement. “I’ve been able to make eye contact with people more, without feeling really anxious, I've been able to walk down a street without worrying about anyone walking towards me. I'm now able to go into a café. I feel much more confident about going on a bus. I just feel so much more confident than I was.”
Another patient told the Guardian that prior to the VR therapy, he struggled to use the bus to visit his own father’s grave. However, the gameChange simulations helped him gain the confidence he needed to make the trip.
“It’s helped me for every aspect,” he said. “I’ve been able to get the bus to my dad’s grave, I’ve been able to put flowers down, spend a little bit of time there and get the bus back.”
The study’s authors suggest that VR headsets could one day be distributed and given to patients to help them gain confidence immediately before heading outside whenever they want. They also hope that even more scenarios can be developed in the future to help patients deal with even more complex social interactions.
In all, the new findings are the most robust look at how VR can be used to treat mental health to date. If these results are any indicator, the treatment can truly be a game changer for those suffering from debilitating psychological issues.
