Virtual Reality And Mental Health

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Most people can recall a time when they were young and went on a grand imaginary adventure to another planet or another place. Performing dangerous and daring feats to overcome obstacles that stood in front of their goal of defeating the aliens or finding the buried treasure. These adventures have become more real and immersive than ever with the immergence of virtual reality headsets, but they can do more than provide entertainment. Virtual reality can be used in the treatment and assessment of patients. It can help reduce pain and decrease symptoms of PTSD and strokes. In this way, Virtual reality is beneficial to society. Virtual reality can be used to help clinical psychologist make important assessments about their patients. One study claims that the benefits of virtual reality for clinical assessments allow for the psychologist to “offer safe, repeatable, and diversifiable assessments of real word …show more content…
According to the National Center for PTSD, 6 to 8 people out of 100 will have PTSD at some point in their lives. This likely hood is increased to about 11-20 out of 100 people for veterans returning from war. The current problem with PTSD treatments are their effectiveness, the stigma attached to therapy, high drop-out rates, and low treatment satisfaction. These effects culminate into a difficult and arduous recovery. This is not an uncommon condition and its effects are devastating and lasting. However, recent tests and studies using virtual reality environments or VREs to treat PTSD” have reported reductions in PTSD symptoms.” Not only that but they “hypothesized that soldiers assigned to VRE would demonstrate lower dropout rates, lower stigma and higher treatment satisfaction than soldiers assigned to PE” (Reger). This technology, if widely implemented, could drastically help people who have suffered through traumatic

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