Virtual reality therapy is coming
(The Washington Post):
“Technologists have called 2016 the year of virtual reality…While the biggest chunk of the estimated $80 billion market for VR and so-called augmented reality will be fed by the demand for video game tech, the second biggest share will go to health-care applications.
“What clinical VR provides is the opportunity to put a patient into a world that is different from where they’re sitting — one that is designed to have some therapeutic ingredient built into it,” said Albert “Skip” Rizzo, director for medical virtual reality at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies…Rizzo said perhaps the most important advantage of VR therapy is that it lowers the barrier of access to mental health care for patients. Patients who aren’t comfortable speaking directly to a therapist because of stigma or fear of judgment, may be more willing to ask for help through a computer.”
Learn more:
- Neurotech + Virtual Reality firm MindMaze raises $100M to accelerate growth, primarily in Europe
- 10 neurotechnologies about to transform brain enhancement and brain health
- Next: Harnessing information and communications technology (ICT) to address mental health challenges affecting 700 million people today
