Around this time last year, Pokémon Go took the world by storm. For those of you who have missed this overnight sensation, Pokémon Go is a (smartphone) game that blends the real world, with a (fake) digital one (Fitzpatrick, 2016). Some might ask themselves how the creators of Pokémon Go, blended the real world with a digital one. The answer to that is very simple, through virtual reality (VR).
Virtual reality, as defined by the Virtual Reality Society, refers to a three-dimensional, computer generated environment that an individual can explore and manipulate. The individual who is submerged in this world, can nearly do anything in the digital world that they can do in the real world (Virtual Reality Society, 2017). VR is often associated with games and/ or the gaming industry, because it is the only industry thus far in which VR has gained a foothold (Freeman & Freeman, 2017). Due to this association, it has become difficult to acquire funding for research regarding the implementation of VR in different industries, even though it has been proved that it has potential in other industries.
VR has been used for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) since the 1990s (Senson, 2016). Ever since it has proved effective in the treatment of PTSD, the use of VR has expanded to other fields of research within the medical field (Botella, Serrano, Baños & Garcia-Palacios, 2015). New treatments for psychological disorders, such as social anxiety, various phobias, and most recently depression, have been developed and have become popular topics to research (Freeman, Reeve, Robinson, Ehlers, Clark, Spanlang & Slater, 2017). According to Freeman et all. (2017), the use of VR in treating psychological conditions has proven to be effective and promising. However, due to inadequate funding, research has been limited.
In conclusion, virtual reality could be used for more than just the gaming industry. As mentioned before, the treatment of psychological disorders such as phobias and social anxiety can change for good. The only obstacle that the implication of VR faces, in the medical field, is the lack of funding. Without adequate funding, we will never find out what the true impact of VR will be on the medical industry.
– Botella, C., Serrano, B., Baños, R. M., & Garcia-Palacios, A. (2015). ‘Virtual reality exposure-based therapy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: a review of its efficacy, the adequacy of the treatment protocol, and its acceptability.’ Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 11, 2533–2545. http://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S89542
– Fitzpatrick, A. (2016, July 12th). ‘How Pokémon Go took over the world.’ Retrieved from: http://time.com/4400791/pokemon-go-iphone-android-nintendo/
– Freeman, D. & Freeman J. (2016, March 22nd), ‘Why virtual reality could be a mental health gamechanger.’ Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2017/mar/22/why-virtual-reality-could-be-a-mental-health-gamechanger
– Freeman, D., Reeve, S., Robinson, A., Ehlers, A., Clark, D., Spanlang, B., & Slater, M. (2017). ‘Virtual reality in the assessment, understanding, and treatment of mental health disorders. ‘Psychological Medicine.
– Senson, A. (2016, June 6th). ‘Virtual Reality Therapy: Treating The Global Mental Health Crisis.’ Retrieved from: https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/06/virtual-reality-therapy-treating-the-global-mental-health-crisis/
– Virtual Reality Society (2017). ‘What is virtual reality.’ Retrieved from: https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/what-is-virtual-reality.html
