The Virtual News, Volume 1(3)
2001
Hello friends and colleagues of the Center for Advanced Multimedia Psychotherapy (CAMP) and The Virtual Reality Medical Center (VRMC)! We hope this letter finds you having a good summer. We would like to thank all of your for your past support and tell you about some of the exciting changes that we have made since the spring.
The Center continues to provide virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy for the treatment of fear of flying, fear of driving, fear of heights, fear of public speaking, social phobia, claustrophobia, agoraphobia, panic, anxiety and stress. The virtual reality treatment is used in conjunction with traditional cognitive-behavioral techniques, including breathing retraining with visual feedback of respiration, heart rate, sweat gland, activity, and skin temperature. In addition, we continue to offer therapy for physiological disorders such as migraine headache, tension headache, urinary incontinence, irritable bowel syndrome, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
In July, we started a “Controlling Stress and Anxiety” group. The group meets on Wednesdays from 6-7pm, and includes learning and practicing relaxation techniques, meditation, and self-hypnosis for an overall healthier lifestyle. The group facilitator is psychologist and certified hypnotherapist Dr. Jim Spira, who has over 20 years of experience working with stress and anxiety disorders. If you would like more information about the group, or have an idea for another group that you would like to see implemented at the Center, please contact our receptionist staff at (858) 457-1464. The “Controlling Stress and Anxiety” group will be offered again in September and October. We are taking reservations for these groups now.
Our treatment program for fear of flying now includes the exposure options of taking a guided tour through the San Diego airport and airport control tower, as well as a tour of a stationary airplane. The pictures below were taken during a recent tour in which a group of people working on overcoming their fear of flying had an opportunity to practice the skills they have learned at the Center on a stationary airplane before taking an actual flight*. We are also planning to include a graduationi flight as part of our treatment.
If you would like to participate in our next stationary airplane tour, please e-mail Linda Manassee Buell (Linda@simplifylife.com). If you would like to take a guided tour of the San Diego International Airport or airport control tower, please contact Leslie Marples at (619) 686-8014 or visit www.portofsandiego.org for the tour schedule.
As we are a training center as well as a clinical research and service center, we are proud to offer services based on income level, with a sliding fee scale. Some insurance policies may also cover our services, which are individual psychotherapy and billed under the “mental health” benefit portion of many insurances. We continue to work on updating and improving our website and welcome any comments or suggestions you may have for making it more informative.
We look forward to being of service to those who need us in the future, and hope to continue to expand the services we offer to you
Sincerely,
Dr. Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCIA Executive Director Donations to support research and training opportunities combining technology and psychology may be made to our 501c3 nonprofit organization—the Interactive Media Institute.
Donations are tax deductible, and a letter will be provided for tax purposes.