Virtual reality could revolutionize mental-health treatments, including ketamine therapy, for conditions like depression and anxiety

• Virtual reality is emerging as a transformative tool in mental-health treatments.
• The tech is helping mental-health providers treat conditions such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
• This article is part of "Build IT," a series about digital tech trends disrupting industries.

Mental illnesses affect millions of lives across the US. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's statistics paint a stark picture: More than 20% of US adults have a mental illness, with a similar proportion seen among people ages 13 to 18.

In the face of this staggering prevalence, virtual reality offers transformative solutions in mental-health treatment and care. Recent research has found that VR can be effective in the treatment of PTSD, body-image disturbances, and stress-related disorders. Its use cases include trauma-focused therapy, as well as mindfulness exercises and social-skills training.

Increased relaxation through immersive VR tech

Shel Mann, a cofounder and the CEO of the VR-development company FireflyVR, told Business Insider that VR could help open the brain's window of neuroplasticity and make it more receptive to relaxation and mindfulness practices, which could lead to positive feelings and behaviors.

Mann said the company's research found that integrating biophysical signal recordings, such as patients' eye gaze and heart-rate variability, into immersive VR applications could enhance outcomes. Physiological responses offer reliable measures for assessing users' emotions and anxiety levels, which could revolutionize therapeutic effectiveness.

Dr. Christopher Romig, the director of innovation at the mental-health clinic Stella, uses FireflyVR tech to ease patients' anxiety before ketamine-infusion therapy, which is the intravenous administration of the drug. It's used to treat conditions such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The combination of ketamine and VR-guided therapy, he told BI, fosters neural connectivity at optimal brain-receptivity periods by helping calm patients.

VR is an engaging method for improving a patient's comfort and compliance during treatment sessions, Romig said. A patient's stress from their daily life "must be placed aside before they start their ketamine session, and the use of VR, setting intentions, and breath work are all very beneficial to helping ketamine establish the happy, healing pathways," he added.

He uses FireflyVR's platform, The Sanctuary, a clinically designed VR experience that uses cognitive-behavioral therapy to reduce patients' anxiety before they undergo ketamine therapy.

Before the ketamine treatment, Romig said, patients enter "a virtual world where they learn about setting intentions, letting go, ritual breathing, and creating positivity."

"I use it to create the 'peaceful mind' for my patients," he said. "It has so many applications, and I think you'll see a lot more VR working its way into mental health in conjunction with biofeedback and AI."

The mental-health-care crisis in the US means forward-thinking solutions are crucial. "We know there's a shortage of therapists," Mann said. "This isn't a nice-to-do; it's a need-to-do."

The Sanctuary was adapted for addiction treatment within the Veterans Affairs system. Mann said this was just one example of how the platform could be used. "When you're in VR, in an immersive setting, you're there. It really fools your brain," Mann added.

With The Sanctuary, users learn about elements such as meditation and breathing techniques, allowing real-life therapists to focus their efforts more on the specifics of patients' diagnoses.

VR cue exposure and embodiment

Nicole Siegfried, the chief clinical officer at Lightfully Behavioral Health, uses VR for patients with eating disorders and body-image disturbances. Patients can use the VR tech in an office or, in some situations, take a VR device home and return it after use.

VR cue exposure, Siegfried said, helps reduce binge-eating habits by exposing people to triggering stimuli in a controlled environment. Siegfried said cue exposure "can create a habituation to the cue, so when the client is confronted with the cue in real life, a binge is less probable."

Additionally, VR allows people with a negative body image to see themselves with different body sizes in a safe space via embodiment. "The goal is to decrease discomfort with weight gain in anorexia," Siegfried said. The patient may experience increased acceptance of their appearance through repeated exposure via virtual simulation.

Both cue exposure and embodiment aim to address the complex psychological dynamics of eating disorders. Siegfried emphasized VR's ability to immerse people in scenarios that are challenging to create in real life.

It acts as a gateway, helping users overcome fears and challenges by digitally placing them in fraught scenarios. For instance, clients with panic disorder or agoraphobia can virtually leave their homes.

"Most clients report a decrease in distress and an increase in willingness during the session," Siegfried said. "Between sessions, there is often a drift back toward baseline, which is why multiple sessions are necessary." She added that these VR applications were "most effective as a step toward in vivo — in life — exposure." The goal is to get clients integrated into normality through exposure-based treatments.

Siegfried told BI that VR could also provide imaginal experiences: A burn victim could be virtually covered with snow in an effort to reduce pain, and someone who's afraid of flying could go through a simulation of traveling by flight, which could include arriving at the airport, checking in, landing, and picking up baggage. "This simulation can be repeated until anxiety reduces and willingness increases," said Siegfried.

Because VR applications are relatively new, it might be difficult to find therapists who are adequately trained to effectively use the tech. Equipment can also be expensive, making some therapists reluctant to integrate VR use into their practices.

Progress is certainly underway, but it'll take more time for the technology to gain prevalence in mental-health care.