The Cigna Virtual Relaxation Pod is an immersive two-minute experience that employs guided meditation.
The experience, which features the voice of expert meditation facilitators, is intended to promote mindfulness and help lower the cost of stress-related illnesses which apparently are estimated to cost the U.S. economy over $300 billion each year.
The debut of the Cigna Virtual Relaxation Pod at STORY is the first in the United States with the intent to go global. Future plans include using biofeedback to measure the therapy’s efficacy and to teach users to relax more effectively.”
By ROB KLEIMAN at psfk
Read more: http://www.psfk.com/2016/01/plugin-to-unplug-traditional-mindfulness-cigna-virtual-relaxation-pod.html
“Virtual-reality (VR) headsets are now being used in many industries as a way of training people or providing a new way to experience things.
Here are 10 ways virtual-reality technology is being used beyond gaming.”
2. Health care
5. Automotive manufacturing
8. Meditation & Mental Health
By Knvul Sheikh at Live Science
Read more: http://www.livescience.com/53392-virtual-reality-tech-uses-beyond-gaming.html
“Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is setting his sights far beyond [use of VR for] immersive, first-person shooter video games.
After games, we’re going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences,” Zuckerberg [has] said. “Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face — just by putting on goggles in your home.”
For years scientists and engineers have been exploring the possibilities of using virtual reality technology outside the gaming world, from PTSD therapy for soldiers to controlling robot avatars.”
Live Science brings you five possibilities:
1. Therapy for amputees and stroke victims
2. Controlling Robots on Mars
3. Seeing inside the body
4. Treatment for PTSD
5. Military training
By Megan Gannon at Live Science
Read more: http://www.livescience.com/44384-oculus-rift-virtual-reality-uses-beyond-gaming.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=most-popular
“The clinical use for VR as therapy has been generating a “rich scientific literature” for the past 20 years, according to Dr. Albert “Skip” Rizzo of the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies.
“Finally, the technology has caught up with the vision in this area, and I expect it to really take off in the next year,” Rizzo tells Tech Insider.
“It has not been the theory or research that has held back clinical VR, rather the availability, adoption and costs that have limited its widespread use.”
Image and text by Kevin Loria at Tech Insider
Read more: http://www.techinsider.io/how-virtual-reality-is-used-for-ptsd-and-anxiety-therapy-2016-1
“Overcoming phobias when people have extreme reactions, to things like snakes or speaking in public. Virtual reality is now being used to help people conquer real world fears.
Dr. Skip Rizzo, of the Institute for Creative Technologies, uses virtual reality to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“We can put people back in these simulations and help them to confront and process very difficult emotional memories,” Dr. Rizzo said.”
By Stephanie Stahl at CBS3
Read more: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/01/08/health-virtual-reality-being-used-to-help-people-conquer-real-world-fears/
“Can virtual reality become a global mental health treatment platform?
Virtual reality (VR) has been used for decades as a tool for therapists to administer virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) in a safe and controlled manner. Due to cost and technology limitations, it has not been widely available, to date.
With the advent of affordable mobile VR headsets, such as the Gear VR, there is a new opportunity to apply telemedicine to decentralize mental health treatment, reaching more patients and improving lives around the world.”
By Alex Senson at TechCrunch
Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/06/virtual-reality-therapy-treating-the-global-mental-health-crisis/
“A new video from The Economist claims that 2016 will be the year of the “virtual reality takeover”.
Perhaps most interestingly, virtual reality isn’t all just fun and games; it’s expanded into the medical world, offering new therapies for people suffering from autism, anxiety, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The video describes the use of virtual reality exposure therapy for a former soldier suffering from PTSD, noting that it can help ease the mental illness.
“We’re helping patients to confront and process difficult emotional memories by putting them back in simulations of what they were traumatized in,” Skip Rizzo, a psychologist who works with virtual reality exposure therapy, said in the video.”
By Lecia Bushak at Medical Daily
Read more: http://www.medicaldaily.com/pulse/virtual-reality-takeover-2016-may-be-year-virtual-reality-can-treat-anxiety-autism-367204
“At Emory University, researchers are using virtual reality to treat veterans who suffered sexual abuse in the military and now have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Emory University psychiatry professor Barbara Rothbaum has been using virtual reality to treat anxiety disorders since 1995.
Rothbaum said wearing a virtual reality headset to see and hear the sounds from a particular place can help patients confront what happened.
“A lot of military sexual trauma survivors have avoided relationships, crowds, going to the gym, so we figure if we can place them in that situation and have them go back to the time of the memory and recount it over and over, we’re hopeful that that can help them even more than regular therapy,” Rothbaum said.”
By TASNIM SHAMMA at WABE News
Image by ALISON GUILLORY / WABE
Read more: http://news.wabe.org/post/emory-uses-virtual-reality-treat-military-sexual-trauma-survivors
“Freeman Health System’s Ozark Center in Joplin has three Bravemind devices— one for adults, one for children and another just for veterans.
The subject puts on headgear that has a 360-degree perspective and replicates for veterans desert scenes like they would have witnessed serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The virtual-reality machine is an extension of prolonged exposure therapy, where the veteran will re-experience a traumatic event repeatedly in a safe place while being counseled by a professional.
Engaging with the trauma allows patients to change their reaction to stimuli, desensitize the trauma and allow for healthy coping mechanisms.”
By Sofia Sanchez Salcedo at Neoshow Daily News
Read more: http://m.neoshodailynews.com/article/20151112/NEWS/151119579
“Doctors and researchers are using virtual reality technology to create simulated events to help patients facing real life issues every day.
“We can put people back in these simulations and help them to confront and process very difficult emotional memories,” Dr. Skip Rizzo at the University of Southern California said.
“The range of areas include psychological treatments, cognitive assessment and rehabilitation, physical therapy is a big area.”
By Denise Dador at ABC7 News LA
Read more: http://abc7.com/health/video-game-technology-used-to-treat-ptsd-phobias/1078235/