You may be amazed how wide a therapeutic range a single medical device can possess. The innovative VR TierOne device has been created and subjected to scientific research in terms of its effectiveness in treating depression, anxiety and stress. Depression affects over 300 million people worldwide, and so do anxiety disorders. Mental and physical health issues often begin with the accumulation of stress. Due to the prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress and related diseases of affluence, it is easy to notice that there are people who need help. At the same time, it should be added that there is a lack of specialists, who could not only diagnose, but also conduct the therapy of mental disorders.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality is a revolutionary medium. The discovery that VR can not only break the monotony of life – as entertainment, but also serve human health, started the long-awaited changes in the methods of treatment and the quality of health services. Using the unique potential of VR allows people to recover their physical and mental health. The VR TierOne medical device is based on the immersive VR medium and has a therapeutic character acting primarily on the mental condition of the therapy participant.
Therapeutic message
VR is a unique medium enabling us to offer a valuable experience. VR experiences can influence people as much as those from the real world. That is why content is such an important element, i.e. a digitally created environment with which you can enter into interactive contact. The feeling of being immersed in VR produces psychological effects.
Sensory immersion in the presented world of VR TierOne allows you to quickly find yourself somewhere else. And the virtual therapist seems to be right next door. The gently flowing story with the illusion of staying in a garden introduces the state of receptivity – the alpha state – the state of vigilant relaxation. In this state, a person rests and effectively assimilates the virtual, intricately constructed therapeutic content.
Visualization
Staying with relaxation as a counterbalance to stress, we know that there are visualization-based relaxation techniques. These techniques, however, require certain skills of creative imagination, generating a new reality, and maintaining a state of mindfulness. Visualization is applied in psychotherapeutic practice, but the problem is the differentiation of visualization skills. The desired direction of visualization is difficult to achieve on our own, and starting meditation on our own proves to pose a challenge. The feeling of psychophysical relaxation can be triggered by Schultz’s Autogenic Training based on auto-suggestion. Studies with a control group have proven that VR TierOne therapy is more effective than Schultz Autogenic Training at improving mood. The mental journey in the therapeutic VR TierOne Garden of Rebirth has a deliberate and lasting impact on the participant of the therapy. It calms down unhealthy thoughts, strengthens positive resources, which are a the strength hidden in all of us. It soothes the senses, relieves stress and anxiety. In patients, it promotes the acceptance of the disease and increases the motivation to take pro-health measures.
Areas of application
Valuable experiences that flow from virtual therapy leave the participant of the session mentally strengthened and in a better mood. This makes VR TierOne therapy effective in rehabilitated patients in whom apathy, discouragement, lack of motivation make it difficult to cooperate and consistently perform physical exercises. This applies, in particular, to rehabilitation after a heart attack and rehabilitation after a stroke that are associated with overcoming depression, which poses an obstacle to full recovery. VR TierOne is used for cardiologic and neurological patients. Total immersion in the VR TierOne digital space has a positive dimension for hospitalized patients, who experience hospital environment as a source of stress and anxiety, as well as for seniors in nursing homes, who suffer from malaise. VR TierOne is based on psychotherapeutic techniques, weaving them into the therapy process. Alternative treatment with VR TierOne can be applied where disturbed mental well-being renders it impossible for the patient to function properly. Mental imbalance accompanies sudden unforeseen events, or occurs due to accumulated stress. VR TierOne is a medical device, therefore the main area of its therapeutic impact are the somatic diseases accompanied by depression, anxiety disorders, pain, cognitive disorders, energy, motivation and mood drops. With VR TierOne, you can successfully take care of the health of patients after stroke, heart attack, COVID-19 and depression. The positive effects obtained in the studied groups of patients encourage us for the search for new applications for VR TierOne, in which VR therapeutic aid will be applied. VR TierOne will also work in spas and retirement homes, and as an element of the well-being strategy in corporations that care for their employees. VR therapy can help healthy people maintain their well-being.
Selected effects of application in relatively healthy people:
- provides deep psychophysical relaxation,
- creates an opportunity to calm down,
- counteracts the accumulation of stress,
- reduces psychophysical tension,
- provides positive reinforcement, and prevents discouragement,
- allows to maintain mental health in good condition.
High efficiency, only a small number of contraindications, repeatability of the therapy, ease of its implementation and the operation of the device, speak in favour of extending the scope of the therapeutic impact of VR TierOne to further medical and non-medical areas.