Psychological<unk>  Exposure<unk> <unk><unk>  technology is especially useful for exposure<unk>  – a treatment method in which patients are introduced and then slowly exposed to a traumatic stimulus. Inside<unk>  environments, patients can safely interact with a representation of their phobia, and researchers don't need to have access to a real version of the phobia itself. One of the primary challenges to the efficacy of Exposure<unk>  is recreating the level of trauma existing in real environments inside a<unk>  environment.<unk><unk>  aids in overcoming this by engaging with different sensory stimuli of the patient while heightening the realism and maintaining the safety of the environment.<unk><unk>  being used in exposure<unk>  for treating PTSD in documentary crew at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, United States. One very successful example of<unk>  exposure<unk>  is the PTSD treatment system,<unk>  Iraq. Using a head mounted display and a game pad, patients navigate a Humvee around<unk>  recreations of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the United States. By being safely exposed to the traumatic environments, patients learned to reduce their anxiety. According to a review of the history of<unk>  Iraq, one study found that it reduced PTSD symptoms by an average of fifty percent, and disqualified over seventy-five percent of participants for PTSD after treatment.<unk><unk>  Exposure<unk>  (VRET) is also commonly used for treating specific phobias, especially small animal phobia. Commonly feared animals such as spiders can be easily produced in a<unk>  environment, instead of finding the real animal. VRET has also been used experimentally to treat other fears such as public speaking and claustrophobia. Another successful study attempted treating 10 individuals who experienced trauma as a result of events during 9/11. Through repeated exposure to increasingly traumatic sequences of World Trade Center events, immediate positive results were self reported by test subjects. In a 6-month follow-up, 9 of the test subjects available for follow up maintained their results from exposure.<unk><unk>  Exposure<unk>  (VRET) offers a wide range of advantages compared to traditional exposure<unk>  techniques. Recent years have suggested an increase in familiarly and trust in<unk><unk>  technology as an acceptable mirror of<unk> . A higher trust in the technology could lead to more effective treatment results as more phobics seek out help. Another consideration for VRET is the cost effectiveness. While the actual cost of VRET may vary based on the hardware and software implementation, it is supposedly more effective than the traditional in vivo treatment used for exposure<unk>  while maintaining a positive return on investment. Future research might pave an alternative to extensive automated lab or hospital environments. For instance, in 2011, researchers at York University proposed an affordable<unk><unk>  exposure<unk>  (VRET) system for the treatment of phobias that could be set up at home. Such developments in VRET may pave a new way of customised treatment that also tackles the stigma attached to clinical treatment. While there is still a lot unknown about the long-term effectiveness of the relatively new VRET, the future seems promising with growing studies reflecting the benefits of VRET to combat phobias.<unk>  rehabilitation The term<unk>  rehabilitation was coined in 2002 by Professor Daniel Thalmann of EPFL (Switzerland) and Professor Grigore Burdea of Rutgers University (USA). In their view the term applies to both physical<unk>  and cognitive interventions (such as for patients suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, phobias, anxieties, attention deficits or amnesia). Since 2008, the<unk>  rehabilitation "community" has been supported by the International Society on<unk>  Rehabilitation.<unk>  rehabilitation is a concept in psychology in which a<unk> utic patient's training is based entirely on, or is augmented by,<unk><unk>  simulation exercises. If there is no conventional<unk>  provided, the rehabilitation is said to be<unk><unk> -based". Otherwise, if<unk>  rehabilitation is in addition to conventional<unk> , the intervention is<unk><unk> -augmented." Today, a majority of the population uses the<unk>  environment to navigate their daily lives and almost one fourth of the world population uses the internet. As a result,<unk>  rehabilitation and gaming rehabilitation, or rehabilitation through gaming consoles, have become quite common. In fact,<unk><unk>  has been used over regular<unk> utic methods in order to treat a number of disorders. Some factors to consider when<unk>  rehabilitation include cultural sensitivity, accessibility, and ability to finance the<unk><unk> . Advantages<unk>  rehabilitation offers a number of advantages compared to conventional<unk> utic methods: * It is entertaining, thus motivating the patient; *Potential for involvement of the patients' stimulus modalities for more realistic environments for treatment. * It provides objective outcome measures of<unk>  efficacy (limb velocity, range of movement, error rates, game scores, etc.); * These data are transparently stored by the computer running the simulation and can be made available on the Internet. *<unk>  rehabilitation can be performed in the patient's home and monitored at a distance (becoming telerehabilitation) * The patient feels more actively involved in the desensitization *The patient may “forget” they are in treatment or undergoing observation resulting in more authentic expressions. *Effective for hospitals to reduce their costs because of lowered cost of medicine and equipment. *Great impact of<unk><unk>  on pain relief Disadvantages Despite all the merits of VR<unk>  as listed in the sections above, there are pitfalls and obstacles in the development of widespread VR solutions. * Cost effectiveness: VRET may show promising returns on investment but the fact remains that the true development cost of VRET environments depends heavily on the choice of hardware and software chosen. * Treatment effectiveness: For the treatment to take effect, a patient should be able to successfully project and experience their anxiety in a<unk>  environment. Unfortunately, this projection is highly subjective and personalised per patient; and outside the control of the<unk> sts. This limitation might adversely impact the<unk> . * Migrating back to<unk>  from<unk><unk> : Another skepticism is the correlation between<unk><unk>  and actual<unk> . If a patient successfully combats their phobia in a<unk>  environment, does that guarantee success in real life too? Further, when treating more complicated ailments such as schizophrenia, there is inadequate projection on how delusions and hallucinations may translate from the real world to the<unk>  one. * VR sickness: Movement in a<unk>  environment is said to cause visual discomfort. Prolonged periods of exposure to VR may lead to side effects like dry eyes, headaches, nausea and sweating; symptoms similar to motion sickness. * Ethical and legal considerations: Since VR is a relatively new technology, its ethical implications are not as comprehensive as other forms of treatment. There is a need to formalize the limits, side effects, disclaimers, privacy regulations as we increase the breadth of impact of VR<unk> ; especially in matters related to forensic cases. * Acceptance by the medical community: As VR-based<unk>  increases, it might pose a challenge to licensed<unk> sts and medical professionals who may perceive VR as a threat. Afterall, VR deviates from the pre-established norm of “talking cure” .
Virtual reality therapy
Video game rehabilitation
Reality therapy
Music therapy
Scrambler therapy
Simulated presence therapy
Mirror therapy
Online speech therapy