Perspective on the Double Edges of Virtual Reality in Medicine - both Addiction & Treatment

Authors

  • Marcel-Alexandru Găină Assistant Prof., UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” Iași & psychiatry resident within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Romania
  • Alexandra Boloș Lecturer at UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania
  • Ovidiu Alexinschi Assistant Prof. at UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania
  • Ana-Caterina Cristofor Lecturer at UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Specialist Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania
  • Alexandra-Maria Găină Neurology resident at the Neurosurgery Emergency hospital ,,Prof. Dr. Oblu”, Iași, Romania
  • Roxana Chiriță Professor Dr., UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania
  • Cristinel Ștefănescu Professor Dr., UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/12.2/215

Keywords:

virtual reality, dissociation, addiction, cue therapy, craving

Abstract

Although the therapeutic potential of virtual reality has been foreseen since over half a century ago, the lack of graphical processing power made it impossible to apply in medical therapeutic sciences until last decade; nowadays, the hardware required for virtual reality is even 100 times more affordable.

A head-mounted display induces immersivity engulfing the subject’s eyesight perception in a stereoscopic manner. The same tool that may aid better self understanding and bonding can also trigger psychopathological mechanisms through which the user becomes alienated from the real world.

As virtual reality became even more popular during SARS-COV2 pandemic, users worldwide have spent more time into a virtual world. Depersonalization/derealization syndrome can occur if virtual reality is abused. The greater the person’s involvement in virtual reality, the greater the chance of a lack of bodily self (depersonalization). Controllers that mimic hands could prevent the subject from acknowledging the real world as true – derealization. Virtual reality’s dissociative potential is related to individual psychological traits and prolonged exposure.

Children are the most prone to develop behavioral changes. Adults may develop behavioral problems related to virtual reality gaming, gambling, pornography and also social networking through created avatars. Blue light wavelength could harm sleep architecture and circadian rhythm by disrupting melatonin, therefore making virtual reality exposure problematic after sunset.

State of the art reveals that using virtual reality in a therapeutic manner, actually facilitates the fight against addictions with cue therapy intended to extinguish conditioned response. The exposure to a substance (nicotine, alcohol, or any other psychoactive recreational abuse potential substances) can trigger craving in a controlled environment, that is malleable in the hands of the therapist.

Virtual reality can offer an exposure perspective that is both vivid enough to be a challenge, but also safe enough to ensure patient involvement and to amplify the therapeutic alliance.

Author Biographies

Marcel-Alexandru Găină , Assistant Prof., UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” Iași & psychiatry resident within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Romania

Assistant Prof., UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” Iași & psychiatry resident within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Romania

Alexandra Boloș, Lecturer at UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

Lecturer at UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

Ovidiu Alexinschi , Assistant Prof. at UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

Assistant Prof. at UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

Ana-Caterina Cristofor, Lecturer at UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Specialist Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

Lecturer at UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Specialist Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

Alexandra-Maria Găină, Neurology resident at the Neurosurgery Emergency hospital ,,Prof. Dr. Oblu”, Iași, Romania

Neurology resident at the Neurosurgery Emergency hospital ,,Prof. Dr. Oblu”, Iași, Romania

Roxana Chiriță, Professor Dr., UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

Professor Dr., UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

Cristinel Ștefănescu, Professor Dr., UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

Professor Dr., UMF ,,Grigore T. Popa” & Senior Psychiatrist within „Socola” Institute of Psychiatry, Iași, Romania

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Published

2021-07-19

How to Cite

Găină , M.-A. ., Boloș, A. ., Alexinschi , O. ., Cristofor, A.-C. ., Găină, A.-M. ., Chiriță, R. ., & Ștefănescu, C. . (2021). Perspective on the Double Edges of Virtual Reality in Medicine - both Addiction & Treatment. BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience, 12(2), 364-373. https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/12.2/215

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