Virtual Reality May Help Depressives

A new therapy that involves patients embodying themselves in a virtual reality avatar of a crying child could help with depression, research suggests

16:35 16 February 2016

A new research conducted at the University College London has tested a new therapy that uses virtual reality and found that it helps with depression.

 

The research, which was funded by the Medical Research Council, lays basis for a large-scale clinical trial to be carried out in the future.

 

The therapy was tried on 15 people who were all being treated by the NHS for depression. The patients put on a headset, which projected an adult version of themselves into a virtual reality mirror. They were also shown a separate avatar of a small crying child. The patients were then instructed to say compassionate phrases to the child to try and comfort and console it. Patients told the child to think of someone who loved them and of the time it felt happy.

 

Then, the roles were reversed. The patient was then embodied into the avatar of the child and were told the same phrases of compassion spoken back to them from the adult avatar in the person’s own voice.

 

Lead author Prof Chris Brewin said: "People who struggle with anxiety and depression can be excessively self-critical when things go wrong in their lives,"

 

"In this study, by comforting the child and then hearing their own words back, patients are indirectly giving themselves compassion. The aim was to teach patients to be more compassionate towards themselves and less self-critical."

 

Co-author Prof Mel Slater added: "We now hope to develop the technique further to conduct a larger controlled trial, so that we can confidently determine any clinical benefit."