Virtual reality therapy set for a real renaissance

Abstract

As the technology becomes cheaper and more accessible, and as research on its effectiveness matures, virtual reality is treating an array of vexing mental ailments. M. Mitchell Waldrop, Science WriterA war veteran fits a virtual-reality headset over his eyes then lowers a pair of noise-cancelling headphones over his ears. After a moment of near-silent darkness, he finds himself bathed in harsh sunlight, standing on a rocky outcrop in Afghanistan. He turns to the left and right: there's nothing in sight but barren hills. He glances up: a helicopter is passing over. The war seems distant. Suddenly, a fountain of rock and dirt erupts down in the valley: a mortar round. A few seconds pass, and another round hits farther up the hillside. Then another. He watches helplessly as the explosions approach. Closer, until the world vanishes in a roar of light and sound. . . .It is a heart-thumping experience for anyone. But for veterans of the real thing, immersion in this virtual Afghanistan can be the stuff of nightmares-literally. This is Bravemind, a virtual reality (VR) system created 14 years ago to help veterans confront and overcome horrific experiences that left them with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). More precisely, this is a version of Bravemind that's been liberated from its original hardware, a head-mounted display that cost $3,000, and ported to an $800 HTC Vive: one of a new generation of lightweight, consumer-oriented VR headsets originally developed to supercharge online gaming.These new headsets are being hailed as potential game changers for VR-based mental health applications across the board. They have rebooted interest in older therapies that, like Bravemind, provide a uniquely vivid and intense alternative to traditional talk-based Fig. 1. First created 14 years ago, Bravemind, a virtual reality system for helping veterans confront horrific battlefield experiences, has recently undergone upgrades that could greatly expand its reach. Image courtesy of University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies.www.pnas.org/cgi

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“…Then, in the mid-2010s something shifted again. Swept by the tides of a new psychedelic renaissance (Sessa, 2012;Brown, 2013;Pollan, 2018) and a virtual reality renaissance (Waldrop, 2017)cyberdelics made their return.…”

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“…On one level, such bridging can entail physical installations coupled with VR environments (or VR projects brought to specific locations), with the pathway into or out of VR functioning as part of a blended experience. At another level, researchers are studying whether VR can serve as a means of combating prejudice or grappling with embodied responses to trauma, asking if VR can produce effects that thereafter inform visceral responses in physical environments (Tassinari et al, 2022;Waldrop, 2017).…”