TED ÇORUM COLLEGE / 9-A
The
COMMITTED
Treating Mental Health
Conditions with Virtual Reality
Eren Oğuz YEŞİL
What does virtual reality( VR) remind you of? Perhaps an image of a person wearing a headset while playing a video game comes to your mind. While this is an enjoyable and thrilling application of VR, this technology also helps treat mental health conditions in clients. This medical application is commonly called virtual reality therapy.
Virtual reality therapy often takes place in the therapist’ s office. Trained therapists in this field usually provide VR devices, like headsets, to their clients and carry out a VR session. Sometimes, the therapist might send their clients home with the given devices. After providing the devices, the client activates them, and the devices simulate an artificial environment where the client can train their social skills, reduce their fears, and process their feelings during a past situation.
VR therapy comes in especially handy in cases of phobias with treatments that are difficult in the real world, like animal, injection, and flying phobias. Imagine a person suffering from a fear of flying( aerophobia). While treating phobias, therapists perform exposure therapy as the standard treatment. Exposure therapy involves gradual exposure to the feared object with the client’ s consent. However, in the case of aerophobia, the client cannot fly and train themselves to overcome their fear. Luckily,
VR therapy can simulate an environment inside an aircraft, and the client can improve their condition.
Although VR therapy opens new doors to treating mental health conditions and helps people improve themselves, the number of therapists trained in this field is relatively low, and some technological limitations might make therapy less effective. Despite the downsides, I see VR therapy as a revolutionary advance in medicine, and over time, it will gain prominence in healthcare.