Virtual Reality can help treat paranoia

                A study found that Virtual Reality (VR) can be effective in treating people suffering from severe paranoia. Using top of the range VR headsets, which can track users’ movements and immerse them in a simulated world, the team virtually placed paranoia sufferers in environments they found stressful, like crowded trains or cramped lifts. By experiencing these places in a controlled setting, the patients were able to practice how to deal with them. By the end of the groundbreaking tests, many of the patients reported a marked decrease in their paranoia. In the tests, the participants donned a VR headset and entered a virtual tube train, which became more and more crowded in each session. There is a lot of work to be done in testing the approach in treating delusions but this study shows a new way forward.