Aug 17 2017
The Power of Virtual Reality for Pain and Anxiety

http://pain-practitioner.aapainmanage.org/doc/american-academy-of-pain-management/the-pain-practitioner—aug17/2017080801/#20

 

The Pain Practitioner interviewed Professor Dr. Brenda K Wiederhold, Chief Executive Officer of the Interactive Media Institute, a 501c3 non-profit,

and President of the Virtual Reality Medical Center.  Please click on Pain Practitioner link above to read the 3-page interview.

 

Contact Information:

 

Email:  frontoffice @ vrphobia.com

Wiederhold’s clinic uses the technology for medical therapy to help patients deal with PTSD, anxiety, phobias (like fear of flying), pain during medical procedures and chronic pain. She predicts more clinics using VR will pop-up in California and across the country within the near future.

 

 

 

 

Contact Information:

Virtual Reality Medical Center

9834 Genesee Avenue, Suite 427

La Jolla, California USA

frontoffice @ vrphobia.com

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Jun 10 2015
Interns Attend BE.VR in Brussels

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Every two months, Virtual Reality in Belgium (BE.VR) hosts a meet-up in which new ideas and innovations are introduced and shared with members of the virtual reality community. On Thursday, June 4th, new interns William Zhu, Emily LaFond, and Miranda Lin attended this event that featured various presentations from VR companies.  They were even given the opportunity to try their new software and products! Here is what they had to say:  

 

“The Virtual Reality in Belgium (BE.VR) conference was a rather unique and unexpected event that I had the honor to attend during my internship with VRMI. It was eye opening to see how far the developers have come to creating a virtual world with tools such as Oculus Rift. Trying on the devices felt surreal. It felt as if another world suddenly emerged in front of my eyes.

Although most people are excited about virtual reality for the entertainment aspect of it, and I won’t deny that I am either, I see a lot of potential for this in other fields. For example, the unprecedented improvement from Oculus can be the next big thing for virtual medical programs, allowing professionals to deal with patients that suffer from PTSD and various phobias more efficiently. With the continuing and rapid advancement of our technology, I can see an increasing demand for virtual medics every day. This could be the future of psychology. Furthermore, virtual reality can play a huge role in training purposes, whether it is for military, police, firefighters, etc. It can sufficiently mimic the situation and trick your brain into believing the scenario. With virtual reality, we will have more trained and better prepared law enforcers and public servants!

Virtual reality has garnered a lot of attention lately from the public, which makes me feel optimistic about the future of this field of technology. It could be a game changer!”

-William Zhu

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Intern Will Zhu trying out a product from The Big Bad Wolf, a Belgian based VR company. Photo courtesy of BE.VR

 

“The Belgium Virtual Reality Meetup was a great way to be introduced to the industry. Prior to the event, I had little knowledge of virtual reality and its use in society. I understand that virtual reality (VR) is an innovative and fast-growing industry that does not entirely dedicate itself to healthcare and therapy. In fact, the majority of VR presented at the event was focused on media purposes including the video gaming and film production industries. We heard from about five different companies and the products they offer. Most of them create software for better VR and more realistic simulations.

I had the opportunity of trying out some of the products before the presentations began. Their dedication and excitement for their demos was overwhelming, which only reinforces their passion for virtual reality. Most companies were based out of Belgium, however, there were others from various parts of Europe including Denmark and France. It was exciting to see the diversity among the products within the virtual reality industry. Although most of the presentations were geared toward the gaming and film industries, I realize VR’s potential for enhancing healthcare treatments specifically for mental health and pain management. The innovation and further development of VR has no intention of slowing down, providing VRMI with an optimistic future!”

-Emily LaFond

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Conference attendee experiencing Vector VR’s driving simulation through the Oculus Rift. Photo courtesy of BE.VR

 

“The virtual reality event on Thursday was very impressive. It was inspirational to see how VR can be applied to various areas. For example, the ASPIC Technologies group showed us a demo of their virtual reality software, which can be applied in the film or gaming industries. The scenes are so realistic that you forget it is indeed virtual reality. They also presented another technology involving human action. In this virtual reality scene, there were three cubes with different colors that were mixed together in a box and I could use my hands to separate them. After using these demos, I could begin to compare the various products and determine the one that appeared most realistic.

In addition to my hands-on experience, I also had the chance to talk to the Vection VR group. The group is aiming to use the Oculus Rift to create vivid driving scenes, enhancing the customer’s experience. This technology can be used for driving schools, racing practices, and at-home video games. Another fascinating company was PsyNAPS, who is aiming to use their new technology to percept the neural process and action behaviour in order to develop treatment exercise.

Although the virtual reality is very impressive, you can still feel the difference when the scene is moving. For example, the cube and racing experience I tried did not entirely sync with my movement. If the VR cannot give the same experience to the patient as reality does, then we need to be more cautious when evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment. I also had the chance to talk to a woman at the conference who is doing marketing for her VR company.  I admired her methods and hope that VRMI can continue to market itself in Europe as our treatment has proven to be helpful to our patients.”

-Miranda Lin 

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Mar 3 2008
2008 Spring Editorial

Journal of Cybertherapy & Rehabilitation

Spring 2008, Volume 1, Issue 1

    

                                                                 EDITORIAL

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Journal of CyberTherapy and Rehabilitation (JCR), a new peer-reviewed academ- ic journal that explores the uses of advanced technologies for therapy, training, education, prevention, and rehabilita- tion. Published quarterly, JCR is unique among academic journals in that it focuses on the rapidly expanding world- wide trend of moving toward technological applications in healthcare. At JCR, our main areas of interest include, but are not limited to, psychiatry, psychology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, cognitive rehabilitation, neurorehabilitation, oncology, obesity, eating disorders, and autism, among many others.

An exciting body of research regarding the utilization of advanced technologies in healthcare has emerged over the past decade, revealing the continuous advances and discoveries made by over 450 investigators to help patients with both mental and physical disorders. Advanced technologies—such as virtual reality (VR), robotics, non-invasive phys- iological monitoring, E-health, and adaptive displays—are now being applied to several areas of healthcare.

This premiere issue of JCR features comprehensive review articles by preeminent scholars in the field. These reviews cover some of the most promising applications for technology in therapy, and rehabilitation, surveying the concepts and studies that laid the groundwork for the field up to this point. It is my hope that this collection of papers will not only act as an introduction for those new to the field, but will also expand the knowledge of those well-established in their careers with newer applications for technology in healthcare. This set of articles is a repository for many of the most vital findings in CyberTherapy and Rehabilitation to date.

The first paper, by Professor Giuseppe Riva from Italy, focuses on using virtual reality (VR) as an embodied technol- ogy for managing body image. Many eating disorders (e.g. Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, Binge Eating Disorder) are associated with a distorted body image. Because of its immersive tendencies, VR is an effective tool for altering and adjusting body image in individuals with these disorders. In addition, VR can be used for nutrition education and train- ing for those with obesity.

The second paper, “Virtual Reality for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Stress Inoculation Training,” features ways in which VR and other advanced technologies can be used to help prevent and treat stress-related reactions in sol- diers and the civilian population. Traumatic events such as motor vehicle accidents, assault, combat, or other threats to life can sometimes cause symptoms that interfere with daily life. VR exposure therapy has shown promise in alle- viating these symptoms, restoring healthy function to those affected. It has also been shown to help train individuals to deal with stressors prior to exposure.

Next is an article on using video games for therapy and rehabilitation of the elderly by Professor Luciano Gamberini of Italy. This paper offers an overview of recent game-based applications used to improve elderly people’s cognitive abilities and to treat psychological problems accompanying illnesses and social isolation. The authors present several examples of videogames adopted within training programs for elderly people, which have been tested through scien- tific procedures.

Pioggia and colleagues discuss the possible uses of robot-human interactions for the treatment and training of people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) in their article. Since individuals with ASDs have impairments in process- ing of social and emotional information, it has been suggested that robotic dolls, mobile robots and humanoids can act as social mediators to teach those with ASDs social interaction skills. It is proposed that ASD patients are better able to focus on and imitate human behavior with training from a biomimetic android.

Later in the issue Cameirão and colleagues present a review of the use of VR for cognitive neurorehabilitation following stroke. VR has revealed itself to be a beneficial tool in the diagnosis, monitoring, and recovery of motor and cognitive skills. This paper reviews cutting-edge VR applications for restoring function to the upper extremities after stroke.

Our colleagues from Canada, Côté and Bouchard, cover the history of VR use for treatment of specific phobias in their paper. They examine 39 studies on the treatment of specific phobias including acrophobia, aviophobia, claus- trophobia, arachnophobia and fear of driving. In their paper these experts provide a critical analysis of research up to this point, and propose future directions for this original application of VR.

Professor Cristina Botella’s team from Spain examines VR applications for both the treatment of chronic pain and dis- traction from acute pain generated by medical procedures or other stimuli. Many medical procedures produce acute pain, and often medication is not sufficient to counteract the distress patients experience. However, in many cases VR has been found to be an effective distracter from pain during medical treatment. The authors also address the new concept of using these advanced techniques for treating chronic pain.

And finally, Professor Sun I. Kim and fellow researchers from Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea evaluate the use of VR for patients with schizophrenia, a brain disorder that is characterized by disturbances in general cognition, such as abnormal expressions of emotion and ways of thinking, mental derangement, regression from reality, strange lan- guage or behavior, and delusion or illusion. Because VR is a medium that can present social and emotional situations via realistic human-computer interactions, it can be used for traditional forms of therapy, with the added advantage of being able to provide objective measurements.

The second issue of JCR will continue to explore the ways in which technology influences and enhances the health- care of citizens in Europe and throughout the world. We are interested in receiving original research and ideas for future theme issues from our readership. Current topics being considered include technology for the elderly, for those with disabilities, and other specialized populations. Please contact us with your interesting manuscripts and ideas for additional topics for the Journal. Thank you for your support of this promising new publication.

 

 

Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCIA

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation

Virtual Reality Medical Institute

Brussels, Belgium

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