philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Psychedelics and VR

In recent years, two separate trends — improvements in headset technology and the growing use of psychedelic drugs in therapy — have intertwined.

From July, approved psychiatrists in Australia will be able to prescribe MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression.

With MDMA (ecstasy) and ketamine also increasingly being trialled as mental health treatments, researchers are experimenting with the use of VR as a tool for psychedelic therapy.

Much of the work in this field is being done in Australia, where a small number of researchers are developing the world's first VR-assisted treatment protocols.

Can a headset help capture the fleeting insights generated while being high?

...

About four years ago, Ms Sekula wondered if VR might be the solution.

Could it bridge the gap between dosing and integration phases by helping the patient recall what they had experienced?

"Integration initially is based on trying to remember, trying to reconnect to that experience and then process it," Ms Sekula said.

"We try to make that first component of it as easy and as rich as possible so that as much of this material is recorded as possible. ...

Under the VR-assisted treatment protocols, the world was designed to be an environment that patients shaped for themselves, a "mind map" of their psychedelic experience.

A therapist could "see" into this world, but they could not enter it. On a computer screen, they could watch the patient and listen to their recordings, but they had no avatar. ...

See the full story here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-02-20/virtual-reality-psychedelic-therapy-psychology-mental-health/101983510