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Happy Tuesday Anon! Today we're discussing how VR can help people suffering from mental illness.
Estimated read time: 1.18 minutes.
On June 22, the FDA (American) granted a breakthrough device designation (sped up approval) to a VR mental illness treatment from Oxford VR.Why it matters: VR is a lot more than just video games and virtual communities; it is being researched as a way to help people with severe mental illness. This represents a massive opportunity to automate parts of therapy. How it works: Oxford VR uses virtual reality headsets to guide patients through everyday situations which cause fear and anxiety for those suffering from psychosis with automated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.The history: OxfordVR spun-out of Oxford University's department of Psychology in 2017 and has raised millions in venture capital. Between the lines: Our brains recognize VR environments as real and this appears to make them effective in treating mental illness.Results from the trial: "The most severe patients in our trial saw a 49% reduction in avoidance, a 41% reduction in paranoia and a 21% increase in quality of life after receiving just 3 hours of gameChange VR over 6 weeks, with benefits maintained 6 months post treatment."
The opportunity: According to the most recent data, Schizophrenia costs the United States $281.6 billion a year and affects the lives of millions; if the FDA approves this device then it could help those people. The investment: While you can't invest in OxfordVR, their recent designation is huge progress for the nascent VR therapeutic industry and a hope that they can do something that has never been done in medical history - scale medicine like software.The bottom line: VR is becoming more than just entertainment, it's slowly becoming medicine. Go deeper: