A new startup is using virtual reality to treat social anxiety and other mental health issues. An estimated 15 million Americans suffer from social anxiety, but natural treatment can be expensive and hard to come by.
And virtual reality can offer targeted therapy performed at home at a lower cost, as Austin-based startup Rey provides VR sessions that put users in a virtual environment that allows them to work through psychological challenges they perform in a safe space and helps It's "rewiring the circuits" that can cause concern, says Deepak Gopalakrishnan, the company's founder and CEO.
This can mean navigating a doctor's office or other social situation within a virtual space, and learning over time to manage feelings of anxiety that may arise.
Human trainers provide guidance that helps users understand coping mechanisms when anxiety occurs, while a virtual reality-based system can be accessed via phone or computer and these lessons can further enhance self-confidence.
“Immersing yourself and feeling that you are actually interacting with another human being or another personality allows you to sort of work through the layers of perception and understanding that your belief patterns are not necessarily true,” Gopalakrishnan says.
A study by Oxford University psychologist Daniel Freeman - also a co-founder of Ray - concluded that patients who used robotic VR therapy experienced a 38% reduction in anxiety and depressive symptoms over a six-week period.
The discovery comes at a time when Facebook has announced its new project, metaverse, and while the idea may seem difficult to many at the moment, virtual reality projects such as metaverse will have valuable social uses in the future.