Most users of virtual reality tools do so for entertainment, but Texas Health has put them to use as part of its alcohol addiction recovery program in Mansfield.
Dr. Ken Jones, a behavioral clinical officer for Texas Health Resources Behavioral Health, explained to KERA's Sam Baker how the V-R tool helps patients resist their addictions.
Dr Jones: It allows us to provide an immersive experience for patients in a realistic high-risk environment such as a party or a social gathering where they're able to practice some of their refusal skills and some of the things that they've learned in treatment in the safety of a controlled environment.
It utilizes exposure therapy, which has actually been around for many years. But exposure therapy previously used to be in vivo. A therapist would actually accompany a client to a high-risk environment and then they would practice those skills live.
Baker: What was it about that step that caused you to look at virtual reality?
Dr. Jones: It was relatively inefficient in terms of the ability for a clinician to accompany a therapist to perhaps the parking lot of a liquor store or even some of the triggers that might present themselves in driving by a certain area that the brain pairs with having utilized substances previously.
So, in a treatment environment, it's actually ideal for us to be able to spend some time preparing them for the relapse prevention piece of treatment and then being able to provide metered exposure in the safety of that environment to allow them to practice those skills before they are discharged and go back into the real world setting.
Baker: How has it worked so far?
Dr. Jones: A lot of times the reaction is they're surprised because when they start out, they go, "This is really just a video game." And by the end of the simulation, they recognize, you know, perhaps I need to take treatment a bit more seriously, or, you know, I really need to practice this a little bit more.
Oftentimes it's not until you've reached that exposure that you realize what types of strategies that you're going to need to be able to navigate that successfully.
Baker: I admit I've never used a virtual reality tool, but I think most people think of it as something that's used for entertainment. I was just wondering if the recovering addict, how much they have to suspend disbelief first in order for this to work.
Dr. Jones: The headset, you know, obviously kind of places you in that environment visually, but it also has speakers directly over your ears.
We also use olfactory triggers. We actually have synthetic scents that replicate common alcohol or drugs. We've got synthetic marijuana, we've got different types of alcohol that they can that we can use to actually trigger that smell when they reach a particular environment.
For example, if in the headset they're walking into a bar as they get close to the counter with the alcohol, we can trigger the smell of a margarita as they're there. And so really the body does respond quite quickly to that type of exposure.
Baker: This doesn't totally replace the real-life interaction, does it?
Dr. Jones: No, it's preparatory. The ideal is to avoid these environments. However, especially as we head into the holiday season, the reality is it's difficult to engage with family and friends in our society without being exposed to least alcohol. This allows us to realistically help prepare them for those situations that perhaps are unavoidable, but allow them to have a better chance at successfully navigating those without falling into relapse.
Baker: Is there any patient you would not recommend for virtual reality?
Dr. Jones: If someone has a history of seizures. There's a few individuals who experience some vertigo-like symptoms with the use of virtual reality. And so those are things that we screen for.
Baker: What's the future ahead for the use of virtual reality in this type of treatment?
Dr. Jones: You know, I believe it's a really exciting time. You know, previously with patients in a group setting, you know, sometimes we would have them close their eyes and imagine if they were in a particular setting to try to achieve the same type of physiological activation. And this allows us to customize the environment for each individual so that it simulates as close as possible, you know, that scenario without the real life risk.
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