Britain Trials Virtual Reality Time Travel to Combat Dementia
Virtual reality (VR) headsets allow people with dementia to watch films that take them to popular seaside resorts, a 1940s candy store or a 1950s street party, to recall thoughts and emotions and help them re-engage with relatives and caregivers.
"If people remember more of their past, remember more of themselves, it just helps with overall mental wellbeing," Arfa Rehman, co-founder of Virtue, which created the software, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Britain's National Health Service (NHS) is testing the new form of reminiscence therapy - where films are played on a smartphone in an inexpensive virtual reality headset - in several hospitals and care homes across the country, she said.
Researchers have found that reminiscence therapy improves cognitive functions and reduces depressive symptoms in people with dementia and that it is more effective with those in care homes than those living independently.
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