Virtual reality helps victims in Ciudad Juárez

As the levels of violence in the north of the country have increased, the number of patients with posttraumatic stress It has also been increasing. Chihuahuan, one of the cities most affected in this respect, is Juarez City Fortunately, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) together with the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez (UACJ), implement a new therapy that is based on the use of virtual reality to treat those who have been victims of kidnapping or witnesses of some homicide.

This therapy focuses on the overcoming traumas that are derived from criminal acts. The treatment is very similar to the one currently used to overcome phobias , that is: patients are exposed to impulses similar to those they experienced, through a sofware of virtual reality that play the scenarios violent and sounds that faced the affected, to help them overcome these.

The program is currently calculating the number of people with post-traumatic stress in the border city with El Paso who will need treatment when it begins to be delivered next January.

The therapy, which has already been applied in Mexico City with 80% of positive results, hard of 10 to 12 sessions and begins with the narrative of the event that affects the patient to raise anxiety situations .

The first four sessions are dedicated to techniques that pretend restructure what the patient continues "keeping in your mind ".

The therapy will be available for people of between 18 and 65 years old for the moment, although the researchers who are in Ciudad Juarez have realized that it is necessary to extend the age range.

Computer programs are created in the Virtual Teaching Laboratory and Cybersychology in the Federal District with the help of digital animators, programmers and psychology staff.

According to the Department of Psychology of the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez, the treatment it will not cost since it is supported by the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) and by the UNAM.

It is hoped that with this new method the recovery of those who have been victims of violence will be much quicker and more effective.

Source: El Universal


Video Medicine: 3D Virtual Museum (March 2024).