Therapy in the Metaverse

Nina Salomons has founded the company Anomie XR, which aims to enable people to undergo therapy in virtual reality.

While the world seems to be slowly recovering, it is clear that we have gone through some kind of collective trauma. The global measures made face-to-face meetings impossible, so we used online solutions like Zoom, WhatsApp or other messaging apps. For some, this was little consolation.

However, when it comes to remote treatment with mental health professionals, the situation may have even worsened, according to the UK charity Mind:

"Of the young people who received mental health support by phone or online during the pandemic, almost a third (32 %) reported that remote treatment made their mental health worse."

Immersion could be the solution

The solution could lie in video games, the metaverse and virtual reality (VR). Because some video games are already immersive 3D environments. Now add a VR headset and you are even more present in the virtual space. Your brain makes you think you're in another physical environment, when in fact you're just sitting at home in your living room.

This immersion and presence makes the overall experience much more interactive, because you really feel like you are in another world. It is this kind of immersion and mass presence that makes VR so interesting for healthcare.

Brennan Spiegel, Director of Health Services Research, says: "Virtual reality can facilitate access to inner reality. VR is far more than just a new treatment method. It is a new treatment paradigm."

One of the reasons VR can be so effective is that customers are more focused, not distracted and experience the world from a first-person perspective. This creates much more engagement than watching a video.

Start-up founded

Against this background, Nina Salomons founded the VR start-up Anomie XR. They want to use the possibilities of virtual reality to do something about the mental problems from which more and more people suffer. By using virtual reality, therapies become more pleasant and also a little 'cooler'. And with the tool, remote therapy via a VR headset becomes possible. Unpleasant telephone conversations could soon be a thing of the past thanks to virtual reality immersion.

The good news she proclaims accordingly: "This means that all those hours you spent playing online games during the pandemic have already been helpful. Because we believe it taught you how to communicate with others in a safe virtual space."

Funding via VR Art

AnomieXR is now working with a total of six VR artists to raise capital for the company. Each VR artist created a specific piece of work that focused on the theme of moving from negative to positive ways of thinking. This is exactly in line with what AnomieXR is aiming for.

Source: Anomie XR / beincrypto