This document provides an overview of virtual reality therapy (VRT). It discusses the history and origins of VRT in the 1990s. It describes how VRT uses virtual environments and tasks tailored for specific conditions in psychological and occupational therapy. Examples given include using VRT for exposure therapy to treat military trauma and depression, and for stroke patients to regain muscle control. The document notes that studies found VRT to be over 90% effective for treating acrophobia. It concludes that while VRT has advantages like increased patient motivation, high equipment costs currently limit its widespread adoption.

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Presented by
P. Gopinath, MCA.,
(Assistant Professor in Department Of Computer Science)
Vivekananda College, Thiruvedagam West, Madurai.

2. CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION
 DESCRIPTION
 HISTORY
 PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY
 OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
 EFFICIENCY
 ADVANTAGES
 CONCLUSION
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3. INTRODUCTION
 Virtual reality therapy (VRT), also known as virtual reality immersion
therapy (VRIT), simulation for therapy (SFT), virtual reality exposure
therapy (VRET), is the use of virtual reality technology for psychological or
occupational therapy.
 Patients receiving virtual reality therapy navigate through digitally created
environments and complete specially designed tasks often tailored to treat a
specific ailment.
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7. DESCRIPTION
 Virtual reality therapy (VRT) uses specially programmed computers, visual
immersion devices and artificially created environments to give the patient a
simulated experience that can be used to diagnose and treat psychological
conditions that cause difficulties for patients.
 VR-based treatment may involve adjusting the virtual environment, such as
for example adding controlled intensity smells or adding and adjusting
vibrations, and allow the clinician to determine the triggers and triggering
levels for each patient's reaction
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8. HISTORY
 Virtual reality therapy was pioneered and originally termed by Max North
documented by the first known publication (Virtual Environment and
Psychological Disorders, Max M. North, and Sarah M. North, Electronic
Journal of Virtual Culture in the year1994), his doctoral VRT dissertation
completion in 1995 (began in 1992), and followed with the first known
published VRT (Virtual reality therapy book) in 1996.
 Psychology Today reported in 1994 that these 1993–1994 treatments were
successful in about 90%of virtual psychotherapy patients.
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9. PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY
BRAVEMIND:
 In 2014, a virtual reality application used as a prolonged exposure therapy
tool for military related trauma called BRAVEMIND.
 BRAVEMIND is as an acronym for Battlefield Research Accelerating Virtual
Environments for Military Individual Neuro Disorders.
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10. DEPRESSION:
 In February 2006 the UK's National Institute of Health and Clinical
Excellence (NICE) recommended that VRT(Virtual reality therapy) be
made available for use within across England and Wales.
 Patients presenting with mild/moderate depression, rather than
immediately opting for antidepressant medication. Some areas have
developed, or are trialing.
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12. OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
STROKE PATIENTS:
 Virtual reality also has applications in the physical side of occupational
therapy. For stroke patients, various virtual reality technologies can help
bring fine control back to different muscle groups.
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14. EFFICIENCY
 Randomized, tightly controlled, acrophobia treatment trials at Permanent
provided >90% effectiveness, conducted in 1993–94. In 40 patients treated,
38 showed marked reduction in phobic reaction to heights and self-reported
reaching their goals.
 Research found that VRT allows patients to achieve victory over virtual
height situations they could not confront in real life, and that gradually
increasing the height and danger in a virtual environment produced increasing
victories and greater self-confidence in the patient that they could actually
confront the situation in real life.
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15. ADVANTAGES
 The preference of virtual reality exposure therapy over in exposure therapy is
often debated, but there are many obvious advantages of virtual reality
exposure therapy that make it more desirable.
 Another advantage to virtual reality rehab over the traditional method is
patient motivation. When presented with difficult tasks during a prolonged
period, patients tend to lose interest in these tasks.
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17. CONCLUSION
 Some traditional concerns with virtual reality therapy is the cost. Since
virtual reality in the field of science and medicine is so primitive and new,
the costs of virtual reality equipment would be a lot higher than some of the
traditional methods.
 Regardless of the benefits with virtual reality rehab, the costs of the
equipment and the resources for a virtual reality setup would make it difficult
for it to be mainstream and available to all patients including the indigent
population.
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18. Thank you
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