A new technology that lets psychologists use virtual reality (VR) to administer addiction recovery therapy to victims of substance addiction is being tested.
According to a press release on 11 March, the founder of the startup and an undergraduate Psychology student in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, Izzy Branam achieves results by showing patients their “future self avatars”.
Combining Psychology with VR
There are several known uses of VR technology in everyday life, such as gaming, learning, and other applications.
Now, it seems more use cases are showing up for the technology, including therapeutics. Branam combines Psychology and VR to drive results in this groundbreaking approach.
Based on research developed by Professor Brandon Oberlin, the technology helps individuals in recovery experience a realistic digital representation of themselves who speaks in their own voice about having fulfilled personal goals and ambitions.
This could include a stable job or a family, versus another version of themselves who did not stay in recovery. The goal is to make that future picture of themselves serve as motivation to continue the therapy.
Oberlin who is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine and an assistant professor of psychology at the IU School of Science, both at IU Indianapolis said:
“There are a number of approaches that have been tried to help people value their future more than their present, but it’s difficult because some people are predisposed to favor immediate gratification — and there is some evidence that drug use itself exacerbates focus on the present. VR offers a uniquely immersive experience, which gives it its power as a therapeutic for shifting focus onto the future.”
After testing the technology on local patients in collaboration with dozens of small addiction recovery centers across central Indiana, the technology is currently in a clinical trial with nearly 100 enrollees.
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