Let's say you're suffering from severe paranoia.
Being around other humans, making eye contact
with them -- it's all simply too much. Could
jacking into a virtual world full of gaze-seeking,
simulated strangers actually help matters?
The answer seems to be yes, according to a
new study from the U.K.'s Oxford University
in which paranoid individuals faced their
fears in the virtual world and emerged with
reduced fear. The researchers brought in 30
people diagnosed with delusions of persecution.
They each underwent a 5-minute behavioral
test that forced them to engage with a real-world,
high-stress social situation -- like venturing
to the local tube station and catching a train.
Then the researchers rolled out some virtual
reality cognitive therapy, strapped them into
some VR headgear and thrust them into a simulated
version of the same stressful environment.
They instructed some patients to use their
normal defensive strategies, such as avoiding
eye contact, while the rest were encouraged
to lean into their fears -- to actually approach
the virtual strangers on the train and look
them in their uncanny eyes. Essentially, it
amounts to exposure therapy, only within the
safe-but-immersive confines of a virtual world.
Granted, this was a small study, and we don't
have the benefit of long-term follow-up here,
but the results are encouraging. Even the
group that stuck to their defensive behavior
experienced some reduction in paranoia, while
the rest reported greater reductions -- with
more than half exhibiting no severe paranoia
at the end of testing. Now don't expect the
entire landscape of psychiatric care to change
overnight, but this is yet another study that
demonstrates virtual reality's potential as
a treatment option for mental health professionals.
Past studies have explored the use of VR in
the treatment of addiction, PTSD, depression
and autism. Now we can add paranoia to the
mix -- so long as no one accidently pops one
of those Oculus Rift horror titles into the
VR rig instead.
Do you think VR has a future as a psychiatric
treatment option? Let us know, and if you
crave more weird science wonder, be sure to
visit now.howstuffworks.com
each and every day.
