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Medical Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is not just for the use of gaming anymore, it is used in a wide variety of revolutionary medical applications; from helping with people’s’ phobias to teaching the human body to walk again. (uoflphysicians.com) (MIT Technology Review 2018)

There is amazing evidence of the benefit of virtual reality, which can also be said to be the same as mind over matter.
Technology has found the perfect way to mimic these natural behaviours. Using this kind of exposure therapy is having a huge effect on rehabilitation for many disorders including Addiction-Dementia-Phobias-Trauma (mental & physical) as well as anxiety, Ptsd, Burn victims for pain management, Autism and Meditation.(Tech Republic (2015))

There are also a number of negative effects from the continual uses of virtual reality goggles.

These include nausea, dizziness, walking into walls, tripping, over cables etc. (1995) communication in the age of virtual reality.  

There is also a sense of leaving your own physical reality which can be harmful to the individual.

A condition known as Photosensitive Epilepsy which is triggered when unnatural stimuli is inputted
like flashing lights and moving patterns. (guardian helmets) is another negative effect from the use of these glasses.

The issue of safety has not been on the forefront of this new revelation. There is not enough research at this moment
to see how much damage the virtual reality goggles are causing (cnet.com).

These headsets are available in the lower range of prices for gaming from $20 to the medical grade headsets which can
come at a cost of up to $2000.

The software that comes with the virtual reality glasses, is usually combined in the price of the glasses themselves.

These medical grade glasses should only be used in conjunction with medical consultation and supervision. There are many
practitioners from doctors to counsellors and psychiatrists who use these devices as part of their treatment processes. St John of God Hospital Health Care is one such health care provider that has adopted this  technology to ease anxiety in their patients. (West Australian 2017)

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