Virtual Reality Aids 'Substance Abuse Disorder' Recovery

The virtual reality technology is suited for people in early recovery of substance abuse. This is a crucial time as there is a high risk for relapse.

Researchers have created a new immersive therapy with the help of virtual reality (VR) technology that utilizes psychological principles. This treatment is designed to help people with substance abuse issues.

Indiana University researchers have recently received over $4.9 million from the National Institutes of Health and launched an IU-affiliated startup company to test and further develop the technology.

Drug Abuse | Drug Addiction | Substance Abuse - Overview
The use of Drugs for reasons other than its prescribed recommendation, is known as Drug abuse or substance abuse. Drug abuse or substance abuse is initiated by various biological and social factors.

‘Scientists have built a virtual environment using future-self avatars to help people recover from substance abuse disorders.’

Future self avatars are life-sized, fully animated and nearly photo realistic. People can converse with their avatars, who speak in their same voice using personal details in alternate futures.

Virtual Reality Technology for Addiction Treatment

"VR technology is clinically effective and increasingly common for treating a variety of mental health conditions, such as phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and post-operative pain, but has yet to find wide use in substance use disorders intervention or recovery," Oberlin said. "Capitalizing on VR’s ability to deliver an immersive experience showing otherwise-impossible scenarios, we created a way for people to interact with different versions of their future selves in the context of substance use and recovery."

After four years of development and testing in collaboration with Indianapolis-based treatment centers, Oberlin and his colleagues’ pilot study was published Sept. 15 in Discover Mental Health. Their findings suggest that virtual reality simulation of imagined realities can aid substance use disorder recovery by lowering the risk of relapse rates and increasing participants’ future self-connectedness.

"This experience enables people in recovery to have a personalized virtual experience, in alternate futures resulting from the choices they made," Oberlin said. "We believe this could be a revolutionary intervention for early substance abuse disorders recovery, with perhaps even further-reaching mental health applications."

Substance Abuse Disorder - Types, Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment
Substance abuse disorder is a dependency on substances that are hazardous when consumed in large quantities.

In the past five months, Oberlin’s team was awarded more than $4.9 million from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), federal scientific research institutes under the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including a $319,542 Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I research grant, to advance their work.

The grants will support clinical trials designed to test for efficacy on relapse prevention, brain activation and other important elements related to substance abuse disorder treatment, Oberlin said. For example, one study will deliver virtual reality experiences remotely via wireless headsets for participants to use at home, as remote delivery of mental health interventions addresses a pressing need for people unable or unwilling to engage in an in-person clinical setting.

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"The ultimate goal of our work is to leverage state-of-the-art VR technology for providing therapeutic experiences to support early recovery—a very dangerous time period marked by a high risk for relapse," Oberlin said. "Last year marked another grim annual record for drug overdose deaths in the United States, with over 100,000 estimated deaths. New innovations in treatment and recovery are desperately needed, and we are hoping that IU’s innovative research efforts will answer this call."

With support from the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office, Oberlin filed for international patent protection on the technology earlier this year.

Drug Abuse Screening Test
Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) is a screening test to find out if you need professional help with ‘Drug Abuse’ problem. This is only an anonymous self test.

He also co-founded a new IU affiliated startup called Relate XR, LLC, with Andrew Nelson, an IU alumnus and CEO of Indianapolis-based virtual reality startup Half Full Nelson, to advance development of the technology and its commercial potential.

"Brandon’s technology is a unique approach to the treatment of mental health conditions like substance abuse disorders, that have been a long-term challenge to individual well-being and societal health," said Simran Trana, associate vice president of the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office. "We look forward to working with his team to develop and deploy this technology through Relate XR by leveraging translational Small Business Innovation Research funds and raising additional investment."

Additional authors on the pilot study include Nelson and Yitong Iris Shen, an IUPUI graduate student in Oberlin’s lab. The initial project was funded by the IU School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.

Source-Eurekalert