IU researchers are building a virtual environment to help people recover from substance use disorders

IU researchers are building a virtual environment to help people recover from substance use disorders

Indiana University researchers are combining psychological principles with innovative virtual reality technology to develop a new immersive therapy for people with substance use disorders. They recently received over $4.9 million from the National Institutes of Health and founded an IU-affiliated startup company to test and further develop the technology.

Led by Brandon Oberlin, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine, IU researchers have built a virtual environment with "future self-avatars" to help people recover from substance use disorders. These avatars are life-sized, fully animated and almost photorealistic. People can converse in alternate futures with their avatars, who speak in the same voice and using personal information.

VR technology is clinically effective and is increasingly being used in the treatment of a variety of mental health conditions such as phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and post-surgical pain. However, it is not yet widely used in intervention or recovery from substance use disorders. Leveraging VR’s ability to provide an immersive experience that presents otherwise impossible scenarios, we created a way for people to interact with different versions of their future selves in the context of substance use and recovery.”

Brandon Oberlin, assistant professor of psychiatry, IU School of Medicine

After four years of development and testing in collaboration with treatment centers in Indianapolis, the pilot study by Oberlin and his colleagues was published September 15 in Discover Mental Health. Their results suggest that virtual reality simulation of imaginary realities may aid recovery from substance use disorders by reducing the risk of relapse and increasing participants' future self-connectedness.

“This experience allows people in recovery to have a personalized virtual experience in an alternative future resulting from the choices they make,” Oberlin said. “We believe this could be a revolutionary intervention for early recovery from substance use disorders, with perhaps even broader mental health applications.”

The technology is particularly suitable for people in early recovery - a crucial time when they are at high risk of relapse - as the immersive experiences can help them choose long-term rewards over instant gratification by deepening connections with their future selves. he said.

In the last five months, Oberlin's team received more than $4.9 million from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), federal scientific research institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). , including a $319,542 Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I research grant to advance their work.

The grants will support clinical trials aimed at testing effectiveness in relapse prevention, brain activation and other important elements related to the treatment of substance use disorders, Oberlin said. For example, one study will deliver virtual reality experiences remotely via wireless headsets that participants can use at home, as remote delivery of mental health interventions addresses an urgent need for people unable or unwilling to participate in an in-person clinical setting.

“The ultimate goal of our work is to leverage cutting-edge VR technology to deliver therapeutic experiences to support early recovery – a very dangerous time marked by a high risk of relapse,” Oberlin said. "Last year marked another grim annual record for drug overdose deaths in the United States, with over 100,000 estimated deaths. New innovations in treatment and recovery are urgently needed, and we hope that IU's innovative research efforts will answer this call."

With support from the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office, Oberlin filed for international patent protection for the technology earlier this year.

He also co-founded a new IU-affiliated startup called Relate XR, LLC with Andrew Nelson, an IU alumnus and CEO of Indianapolis-based virtual reality startup Half Full Nelson, to advance the development of the technology and its commercial potential.

“Brandon’s technology is a unique approach to treating mental illnesses such as substance use disorders, which have long been a challenge to individual well-being and societal health,” said Simran Trana, associate vice president of the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office. “We look forward to working with his team to develop and deploy this technology through Relate XR, leveraging translational funding for small business innovation research and raising additional investment.”

Additional authors of the pilot study include Nelson and Yitong Iris Shen, an IUPUI graduate student in Oberlin's lab. The original project was funded by the IU School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.

Source:

Indiana University

Reference:

Shen, YI, et al. (2022) Effects of Virtual Reality Interventions on Future Self-Continuity and Delayed Reward Preference in Substance Use Disorder Recovery: Results from a Pilot Study. Discover mental health. doi.org/10.1007/s44192-022-00022-1.

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