Stepping outside reality could help seniors see the light

UP to a quarter of seniors experience overwhelming anxiety and a Canadian research team says virtual reality -which is making headway as a drug free therapy -- could be an effective way to treat it.

While cognitive therapy involving visualization and abstraction has always been the go-to drug-free solution to seniors’ anxiety troubles, the pitfalls of ageing can interfere.

“For seniors, imagining intangible or abstract situations therefore becomes more and more difficult,” says Dr. Sébastien Grenier of the University of Montreal. “Virtual reality exposes people to the source of their anxiety without having to physically go somewhere else or imagine their fear.”

Thanks to support from the Quebec Network for Research on Aging (RQRV), Dr. Grenier is currently testing the effectiveness of this approach in a pilot study with his team, although several trials are necessary before it becomes accessible.

In support of the method, the RQRV has drafted a preliminary paper, which was published in the journal International Psychogeriatrics.

The effort signifies ongoing efforts in the health care

For seniors, imagining intangible or abstract situations therefore becomes more and more difficult,” says Dr. Sébastien Grenier of the University of Montreal.“Virtual reality exposes people to the source of their anxiety without having to physically go somewhere else or imagine their fear.

Dr. Sebastian Grenier, University of Montreal

community to step away from pharmacological solutions to mental health problems.

Recently, Swedish researchers conducted a study suggesting that mindfulness therapy - - a Buddhist-based form of meditation oriented towards optimizing self-control -- could outdo cognitive therapy in treating anxiety.

The study involved participants up to age 64, however the study’s sample of 215 patients included individuals as young as 20 years of age, and was not focused on the elderly.

As for virtual reality, it’s being increasingly used as a form of therapy since a 2011 study indicated it had the potential to reduce symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Working with war veterans, the researchers used multi-sensory, customizable virtual reality to activate the mind by allowing it to relive the experience in a safe environment.

Comfortably repeating the traumatizing event diminishes anxiety, said the researchers, and virtual reality is now being used to treat car crash survivors and individuals with phobias -of airplanes, for example.

One of the frontrunners in this domaine is the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies, where project leader Albert “Skip” Rizzo created an adaptation of the popular video game Full Spectrum Warrior specifically for treating PTSD.

Rizzo calls his method Exposure Therapy, and it works along the general plan of virtual reality treatment by allowing the patient relive a traumatic war memory -- even down to the odours -- in a controlled circumstance. — Relaxnews