- Virtual reality therapy
Virtual reality therapy (VRT) is a method of
psychotherapy that usesvirtual reality technology to treat patients withanxiety disorder s,post traumatic stress disorder , and several other medicalphobia s. New technology also allows for the treatment ofaddiction s. The first research for VRT was done in the early 1990s. Pioneered by Dr. Max North.Barbara Rothbaum , David Ready andLarry Hodges founded the company [http://www.virtuallybetter.com Virtually Better] in 1996 to continue research and development. Examples of the many environments that exist are Virtual Iraq, Virtual Airplane, Virtual Nicotine, Virtual Elavator and Virtual Vietnam.External links
* [http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/ANXIETY/news/virtual_reality_therapy.asp HealthyPlace historical information]
* [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000CDC34-D80E-10FA-89FB83414B7F0000 An article on VRT by Scientific American]Virtual Reality therapy has many various programs that help patients in numerous ways. Some examples would be the program Virtual Iraq, fear of heights, public speaking, and other various phobias. Virtual Iraq helps individuals deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is a phobia that soldiers receive after coming home from war. Virtual Iraq takes the individual to a virtual war zone and adds certain elements to rid of the soldiers post traumatic stress disorder or cure the phobia a little bit. Virtual reality is also used in fear of heights, the individual is placed in a period of time where they only have the option of falling. Time is of the essence and the individual will conquer their fear of heights, if the individual can master falling off a 20 story building, then standing on a tree will be no big deal. Virtual reality therapy is also used for public speaking, the therapist puts the individual in a room with a full audience and the individual must give a lengthy speech. The individual will realize that they can do it and gain the courage to use their skills in real life. Some other phobias that virtual reality therapy consists of are fear of spiders, riding the train, riding on an airplane, 9/11, and many other phobias.
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