Using Virtual Reality to Treat Addiction

Article Excerpt: With funding from NIDA and the DOD, Zach Rosenthal, an assistant professor at Duke, is running virtual reality trials with individuals trying to recovery from drug addiction.  These patients are hooked up to a virtual reality simulator and placed in a high-risk area where the researchers can slowly add cues to the environment (e.g., alcohol, drugs, paraphernalia), or change the environment itself, altering the situation based on each patient’s history.  Rosenthal’s research employs a methodology called virtual reality cue reactivity.  The idea is that, through this approach, people will develop coping mechanisms and utilize those strategies when confronted with a high-risk situation.