Harnessing the Power of Virtual Reality to Combat Addiction

People who have a substance use disorder, behavioral addiction, or alcohol use disorder often find it more challenging to overcome it than they’d initially expected. Some feel that addiction is a myth and can always quit whenever they feel like it. However, it’s not usually as easy!

Finding solutions that can help overcome anxiety and other forms of addiction has become more important as many people become aware of the effects it can have on overall mental health. Multiple studies conducted have indicated that haptic technology can help fight different forms of addiction, including reducing symptoms associated with anxiety.

Virtual Reality in Fighting Addiction

VR is a technology that uses head-mounted displays to immerse users in virtual worlds. Early attempts to make Virtual Reality common among users were unsuccessful, especially among regular people, due to its tendency to induce motion sickness among users, not forgetting to mention the cost of the equipment.

However, successful gains have been made and it has not only become more accessible, but issues seen in the first prototypes have been smoothed out. This has made VR technology find many uses in day-to-day activities, including in fighting addiction.

The Integration of VR in Addiction Treatment

The use of Virtual Reality in the fight for addiction is widely used by trained professionals looking to achieve certain goals. Such specialists guide the affected persons through virtual experiences customized to them to reach evidenced outcomes.

When using this form of treatment, three areas have already proven to be quite successful. These include stress management, exposure therapy, and augmenting traditional therapeutic approaches. The first two rely heavily on VR for treatment.

Exposure Therapy – Using VR to Fight Cravings and Triggers

A 2022 systematic analysis of the use of VR to fight cravings shows that VR technology successfully triggered cravings in users after being exposed to cues. This is important in the sense that by successfully activating these cravings, users can navigate them and manage the unpleasant ones in a more controlled environment. Based on this, scientists believe they can use neuroplasticity to induce changes in the subject’s brain.

Stress Management

VR technology uses real time feedback to help affected people to better understand their stress responses. The technology achieves this by monitoring physiological reactions to stress, such as the heartbeat rate of a gambler playing online slots at the Spin City casino, and relaying back to the person within the Virtual Reality environment.

Based on this, the affected people can have a much better understanding of when, why, and how the stress happened. This information or insight can help them overcome or fight the stress. This technology has successfully been used in people affected by PTSD.

Using Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Changes

Alcohol and drug addiction rewire the brain’s reward pathways. This makes any form of recovery and detox a challenging process. The good news is that brain cells can be rewired through a process referred to as ‘neuroplasticity.’ This is the ability of your brain to open up to new connections by shutting off the old, unusable ones. The process is achieved by repeatedly exposing the brain to new stimuli.

A classic study on the brain plasticity of New York cab drivers shows those who’d memorized the intricate street layout exhibited increased grey matter in the hippocampus. This is the part of the brain responsible for spatial awareness and long-term memory. Scientists hope by rewiring this part of the brain, they could reconfigure the reward circuits of addicts, offering a better path through detox, withdrawal, and addiction recovery.

Ethical Considerations and Potential Risks

While using these technologies to fight addiction has proven to be quite successful and useful, there are risks associated with it:

• Informed consent: Virtual Reality is an emerging technology. This means before using it on a patient, informed consent must be given. Affected users might not have a full understanding of what VR treatment in addiction entails and thus need to be fully informed on the process of treatment and the outcome. This is especially true for patients undergoing detox or in withdrawal and who are considered vulnerable.
• Data privacy and security: VR has the capacity to record sensitive data and information on a person’s behavior. Any information collected must be protected safely and securely during and after the treatment process.
• Evidence-based practice: VR therapy for addiction therapy should and must be evidence-based. It should be rigorously tested to ensure the safety of the user is protected and all risks minimized.

In a world where everything is constantly evolving, technologies such as haptic feedback and Virtual Reality play a crucial role in developing new ways of therapy, especially in areas of addiction. At the time of writing this, the TESLASUIT, alongside its TENS and EMS technologies, has shown significant potential in helping deal with multiple forms of addiction. Under the proper and careful guidance of a qualified therapist, affected persons can learn how to fight their addictions using these technologies.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/01/25/sponsor-spotlight/addiction/