Why use Virtual Reality to support mental health and wellness?

Proven benefits to mental health.

There is now wealth of evidence supporting the use of virtual reality in the prevention and treatment of anxiety and stress (Gold & Mahrer, 2018; Pot-Kolder et.al., 2018; Ryu et al., 2017; Walshe et al., 2003). In fact some research is showing evidence that VR is more effective between pre and post-intervention anxiety measures, compared to control activities such as CBT. Across all range of ages from children to adults (Eijlers et al., 2019; Oing & Prescott, 2018).

How does it actually work?

Immersion:
Distracts from negative thoughts

It is the immersive nature of virtual reality that supports its therapeutic benefits. By immersing someone into a virtual environment you are increasing their sense of presence and ultimately re-orienting them away from their outside word and inner thoughts. Essentially…the immersion into a new reality increases a sense of presence and this distraction is helpful in alleviating mental health ailments.

Engagement:
Supports a new focus improving thought processes

The combination of suspending belief and engaging experiences captives people to distract away from negative thinking and external pressures and enables space and focus on how to recognise them and respond differently. VMind has been developed with and reviewed by a range of experts in mental health to deliver experiences and sessions that support emotional regulation and reflection on difficult situations and thoughts. It uses the virtual landscape to explore themes that may be affecting young people and provides approaches to help them manage difficulties in the every day.

Motivation:
An engaging way to explore the mind and learn how to respond

Many activities designed to support mental health can be perceived as boring, too difficult and ‘not for me’ etc. This especially applies to the younger generations. Virtual Reality however provides a bridge between the motivational techniques used for capturing attention and imagination in games and the therapeutic advantages of techniques such as mindfulness, meditation and CBT. VMind has uniquely fused the expertise of game designers and mental health experts to present a solution that uses all of these skills and techniques to inspire and motivate the user to understand their mental modes and engage with practices that support positive ways to respond.

Especially good for younger people…

We know from research that the element of immersion in itself is therapeutic; in adolescence there are key neurological developments (Konrad et al., 2013), meaning that virtual reality environments can appear more vivid and impactful than it does in adults -which can increase the impact of the immersive experience. (Bailey and Bailenson 2017).

VR technology supports better engagement with the therapeutic methods.

The second is more practical…adolescents are more pre-disposed to engage with virtual reality technology than traditional support mechanisms like face to face support, clinical therapists and guided mindfulness sessions.

VMind

It is based on this concept that we have built VMind. VMind by its nature supports a private and individual experience where young people can be in control of their experiences. It is also free from all the associated distraction that comes with other technologies such as phones and the internet.

VMind software has been developed especially as a stand alone solution that does not need to be connected to the internet. This ensures that when people are immersed into the experiences, there is no way to navigate to other places and applications and it cannot be infiltrated by external people technologies.