Virtual reality headsets are often associated with video games and fun, but companies are also working to use them for mental health therapies, to treat phobias, anxiety or addictions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some phobias, for instance, can be effectively treated by gradually exposing a patient to his or her worst fear, be it spiders, plane travel or small, enclosed spaces.<\/p>\n
TeleSoftas, a Lithuanian firm that develops mobile apps, believes this exposure therapy can easily be achieved from the safety of a health professional\u2019s consulting room using the headsets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith virtual reality you can create audiovisual therapies in a safe environment for phobics,\u201d its CEO Algirdas Stonys told AFP at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the phone industry\u2019s largest annual trade fair.<\/p>\n
So for instance, someone who is scared of speaking in public would find himself in front of a room full of people, virtually.<\/p>\n
TeleSoftas has just received EU funding to finance the development of mental health apps for virtual reality headsets, in collaboration with academics.<\/p>\n
Psious, a Spanish start-up, is also in a similar field.<\/p>\n
Exposure therapies are designed to encourage the individual to enter feared situations, either in the real world or through imagined exercises.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we thought that in this digital age, there had to be something more,\u201d said CEO Xavier Palomer Ripoll.<\/p>\n
Created three years ago because one of its founders was scared of flying, the firm develops apps for psychotherapists who can download them and use them on virtual reality headsets.<\/p>\n
The doctor then choses an adequate environment.<\/p>\n
For instance, once kitted out with the headset, a person with vertigo will find him- or herself in a lift going up or down a skyscraper.<\/p>\n
Using a computer, the psychotherapist can propel the lift higher and higher, or make the floor transparent to increase the difficulty of the exercise.<\/p>\n
They can also gauge how well the patient is doing by seeing for example if they are able to look down.<\/p>\n
Psious raised close to a million euros ($1.1 million) in 2015, and provides the technology to some 600 doctors, mostly in Spain.<\/p>\n
In parallel, it is currently going through nine clinical trials with universities to get long-term efficacy data.<\/p>\n
TeleSoftas, meanwhile, hopes to eventually be able to offer virtual environments to treat obsessive-compulsive disorders, post-traumatic syndromes, alcoholism or smoking.<\/p>\n
Several American start-ups are working on these kinds of applications as well.\u2014AFP<\/p>\n
Image: Alamy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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