Virtual Reality Therapy for the Treatment of Alcohol Dependence: A Preliminary Investigation With Positron Emission Tomography/Computerized Tomography

Virtual Reality (VR) in Assessment and Treatment of Addictive Disorders: A Systematic Review

“…Three controlled studies (n = 70) in Korea evaluated virtual exposure therapy, including aversive exposure situations on alcohol craving reduction (Lee et al, 2009;Choi and Lee, 2015;Son et al, 2015).…”

Neuroimaging the Effectiveness of Substance Use Disorder Treatments

“…Craving reductions were also associated with a decreased activation of regions in PFC, specifically IFG and SFG (Moon and Lee 2009). In a recent preliminary study by Son et al (2015), AUD subjects received 5 weeks of VR therapy, undergoing FDG-PET before and after treatment. At baseline prior to starting VR treatment, AUD subjects exhibited elevated metabolism in basal ganglia compared to controls.…”

“…Cue-induced amygdala reactivity reduced after 3 weeks of CBM training compared to the placebo training group (p < 0.05 family-wise error corrected). Decreases in amygdala cue reactivity covaried with decreases in craving in the CBM group, but not in the placebo group This study was preliminary, however, since a small number of subjects was used (N = 12 AUD patients) and the control group did not undergo treatment, only a baseline scan (Son et al 2015). Future expansion of this VR therapy into a larger number of subjects as well as inclusion of a healthy control group in the VR treatment would provide further evidence into its potential for AUD treatment.…”

“…Additionally, antidepressants are used to improve negative moods which are associated with addiction and which significantly contribute to relapse. Behavioral approaches to abstinence include motivation enhancement,, cognitive bias modification and virtual reality trainings (Wiers et al 2015b;Son et al 2015). Another recently investigated treatment includes the use of real time fMRI neurofeedback where participants are shown the activation of certain regions and asked to manipulate the activation in a certain direction .…”

What Protects Adolescents from Suicidal Attempt: A Qualitative Study

“…According to estimates by the world health organization, in the year 2020, approximately 1.53 million people will die from suicide and at least 10 times more people will attempt suicide worldwide. This is on average 1 death every 20 seconds and 1suicidal attempt every 1 -2 seconds (9,10). In Iran, suicide attempts have become increasingly important.…”