Paranoia 'reduced' by virtual reality therapy

In a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, an Oxford University team found that patients experiencing paranoia could have their symptoms alleviated through a VR experience.Virtual reality has been used to treat conditions like autism, PTSD and depression,now new study claims that it could be used to reduce persecutor y delusions in patients with paranoia. "The patients had tried standard treatments, like medication, but still had strong paranoia," Daniel Freeman told WIRED. Freeman, who is a professor of clinical psychology at Oxford University, worked on the project. "So the benefits of VR were shown for people who had difficulties despite treatment in mental health services." The experiment used patients with persecutor y delusions – people who mistakenly think that others are watching them or are trying to cause them harm of some kind. This can often lead to safety-seeking behavior, wherein patients believe that particular threats was averted because of avoidance rather than because the threat was erroneous to begin with. For example, a patient may believe that they weren't attacked because they got off a bus when they felt paranoid, rather than because they were unlikely to be attacked in the first place. Almost all patients with persecutor y paranoia indulge in this kind of safety-seeking behavior. To examine how to alleviate or reduce this kind of behavior, the team developed a VR experience to expose patients to situations that were likely to cause them paranoia-related anxiety. Virtual social environments could provide a means for patients with severe paranoid to make the first steps towards entering their feared situations before taking the learning into the real world . 30 patients with persecutor y delusions were first asked to complete a 5 minute behavioral test in which they entered a real life social environment they were scared of (for example entering the Tube or walking to a shop). They were then given virtual reality cognitive therapy, and asked to rate how strong their conviction in their delusion was before and after each VR experience. Compared to patients who underwent exposure therapy, VR cognitive therapy led to "large reductions in delusional conviction". Freeman hopes that the technique could be used further – "undoubtedly, VR could go on to have a central role in mental health clinics and wards" – and thinks that the best time to target patients is during an early onset of an episode. "Arguably, the best treatment approach would be to help people at the earliest stages of their problems," he said. "One could envisage people using VR at home delivered via a smartphone. Generally, the longer and more severe a problem then the greater the therapist time needed to help complement a technological treatment device." "So the earlier the problem is caught, the greater the likelihood the person can overcome it alone using VR." At this point in the research, the team view the project as "another treatment to add to those provided in services". But they also say that VR could be "especially potent" for the treatment of persecutory paranoia because it targets the key issue of a sense of danger. "With VR, we can help patients relearn safety, and in this way the paranoia begins to fade away." Barriers to access are slowly lifting, though – while such services were previously limited because of "the cost and specialist technological support needed" to run programs like this, this is now changing. culled from wired