Virtual reality does not have to apply only to leisure and video games, but can be a powerful tool that encompasses aspects unimaginable a few years ago, such as health.
It is true that virtual reality Is being increasingly used in the field of mental health as it is proven to work and it has incredible advantages, such as re-creating the person's feelings and emotions as if the situation were real, but in a more secure environment.
Its use is spreading in multiple clinical centers and hospitals around the world, for its easy use and for being more and more affordable economically. In addition, it should be noted that in psychology and psychiatry it is important to stay current and explore new ways of helping patients.
Here is a list of the 11 companies involved in creating or managing virtual reality and augmented reality software to evaluate, monitor and effectively treat users in the field of mental health.
All the companies included here offer innovative and quality alternatives; Each with small variants that can be more adapted to a certain type of patients.
If your company is missing leave us write in the comments and if we like the product / service we will add it. Thank you!
1- Psious
Founded by physicists Xavier Palomer and Dani Roig in 2013, it is a Barcelona company that is in amazing growth. Its virtual reality technology is already being implemented in psychology consultations in different countries, in centers such as the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Johns Hopkins Hospital and even at Stanford University.
It focuses on the treatment of problems associated with mental health, using virtual reality platforms to achieve various purposes. For example, they include treatments for anxiety, fears and phobias through controlled exposure to different environments. In addition, they also focus on relaxation techniques and mindfulness.
It has different application forms that are simple and do not require specialized knowledge, one of these are the virtual reality glasses in which you only have to place your Smartphone.
On the other hand, the level of exposure can be administered in each therapy, being more or less advanced according to each patient. In addition, it has the function of capturing the physiological aspects of the person in order to know their degree of anxiety.
Another advantage that it presents with respect to other similar platforms is its price, which is very affordable for professionals.
This company is one of seven companies considered as"game changers"or"change the rules of the game", and has achieved a mention of honor in the HITLAB World Cup as one of the most innovative health-related companies.
2- NeuronUP
It consists of a web platform founded and directed by Íñigo Fernández de Piérola and focuses on neuropsychological rehabilitation. That is, for the recovery, substitution or maintenance of cognitive alterations that may appear after brain damage, aging, neurodevelopmental disorders, dementias, associated with disability or mental illness. Their exercises serve for all ages, differentiating between the child population and the adult population.
It has been developed thanks to the joint work of neuropsychologists, computer scientists and occupational therapists, and its goal is to be the perfect support for professionals in cognitive stimulation and rehabilitation.
An interesting advantage is that the treatments can be adapted as much as possible to patients, as it contains more than 6000 exercises and simulators that will help the patient to improve their cognitive functioning and develop their ability to carry out activities of daily living .
Another quality is that it has several formats to better adapt to each patient, being able to adjust also the level of difficulty. The good thing is that the professional has a margin of freedom in which he can design the activities suitable for each user, which gives rise to a personalized and intensive treatment.
A benefit for the professional who uses it, is that it has a platform in which they can manage, through various devices, patients, exercises and even communicate with the rest of the professionals to stay updated.
3- NeuroAtHome
This software was founded by Pablo Gagliardo Villa García in 2012, receiving several national and international awards; Such as the 2006 Microsoft HealthInnovation Awards International Award, for its innovative nature in the field of health.
Its function is the rehabilitation of deficits caused by neurological injuries or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer, and is distinguished by being the only platform that rehabilitates both cognitive and physical functions; Since both aspects are essential for the recovery of this type of patients.
For example, users can do exercises for balance, coordination, muscular strength, initiation of gait... as well as to maintain or recover attention, perception of space, memory, reading, calculation, cognitive flexibility, etc.
Another positive aspect of NeuroAtHome is that it can be used in hospitals, residences or clinics as well as in the patient's home, being able to be anywhere in the world. The exercises performed are recorded to be observed objectively and see if they are producing the desired results.
This software designed by a multidisciplinary team for clinicians, and one of its main objectives is to achieve a more efficient and affordable rehabilitation of chronic diseases through virtual reality, touch advances and the Kinect sensor.
This platform is already being used in various countries in Latin America and Europe.
4- VirtualWare
It is a technological company that develops a great variety of products with different applications considered"serious games", along with the Burmuin Institute of Psychology.
They have developed a virtual reality application for King's College with the aim of investigating the relationship between elements of social performance and paranoid ideation. The person can enter the scenes through the Oculus Rift.
It also contains a manager to administer patients to the researcher or psychologist. This allows you to configure the therapies and customize them and change scenarios.
5- PREVI
From the Unit of Personality Disorders, he has managed to develop and validate with the collaboration of the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón and the University of Valencia and covers virtual reality treatments centered on: claustrophobia, height phobia, fear of Fly, eating disorders, agoraphobia, or pathological gambling.
On the other hand, it has two applications of augmented reality; Which consists of overlapping virtual components such as objects, beings, images or texts in the real world. These applications have been extremely effective for the treatment of phobias, specifically in this case they treat acrophobia or phobia to heights and phobia to small animals (cockroaches and spiders). The good thing is that the professional can choose the number of animals, their size, their movement, etc. And the patient will feel more open to overcome his phobia by thinking that it is something virtual and controlled, although it closely resembles reality.
In case you are interested, the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón, the University of Valencia and the Polytechnic University of Valencia have also carried out two telepsychology programs self-applied through the internet for the fear of public speaking (called" tell me ") And for the phobia of small animals (" without fear ").
6- PsicoRV
It is a system developed by the virtual reality laboratory and augmented InnovaTecno , Which offers multiple applications by providing hardware and software systems; Among them Psychology.
The difference that this virtual and augmented reality platform has is that the professional does not depend on pre-made scenarios, but can create new scenarios with total customization to suit the needs of each patient. Thus, the psychologist can create or use an environment, placing buildings, furniture, animals, vegetation, etc. In addition to being able to place events according to the proximity to an object, click or after a certain period of time; And you can add videos, texts, sounds, lights...
On the other hand, it has different configurations to be able to adjust to each center. It can be with the person alone, interacting individually with the virtual world or guided by a therapist. There is also a variant in which the patient will act in the synthetic world accompanied by several spectators, which is useful for collective therapies or in schools.
It is already used in several universities and comes within the best existing options of virtual and augmented reality in the field of clinical psychology.
7- VR-EVO
It is headed by Yen Gálvez, and is the first company focused on Generic Virtual Services in Spain, working for companies such as Coca-Cola, Telepizza, Nokia or Mediaset.
On the other hand, it is also the first virtual reality school in Spain; Offering a Master's Degree specialized in this subject where you will know how to design these systems and apply them. They have offices in Malaga and Madrid where you can inform without compromise, although you can also informarte here.
They focus on many areas such as scientific simulations for research, experiments, medical sector, marketing, virtual heritage such as museums or historical recreations, augmented reality, etc.
This company is excellent for treating anxiety disorders such as phobias, or if you are thinking of applying virtual reality research in psychology or health; Although it could be applied to everything you can imagine.
8- TWOREALITY
It was born in 2010 with the objective of helping companies create actions in virtual reality and stands out for its high quality.
It consists of an agency in which professionals work in different fields such as animators, engineers, 3D modelers, photographers, etc. These work together to create the custom virtual reality design that the client wants.
They cover many areas such as tourism, nautical or training and simulations. So if you have a great project that you want to apply to the field of mental health to do therapy and you want to design in a personalized and novel, this site is for you.
In addition, you can rent virtual reality glasses with packs of different components.
9- ARsoft
They have received several awards for their innovative work, for example, in 2012 the Junta de Castilla y León awarded the award to the best business project, or in 2013 by Universia.
They work according to what the customer demands, and they are specialists in augmented reality applications for different areas and localization systems. In addition, they have virtual reality services; Such as virtually product displays, spherical or 360-degree videos, etc.
AIRsoft is developed by a young team of engineers experts in Augmented Reality, and have headquarters in Salamanca and Madrid if you want to know.
10- ATLANTIS VR
It specializes in the design and creation of virtual reality systems for everything imagined: museums, exhibitions, theme parks, aquariums, interpretation centers, marketing, etc. As well as health.
It has a lot of innovative products that can be applied to treatments in the field of psychology and health both in practice and research and training, such as: motion capture, interactive flooring, high quality video animations, immersive three-dimensional immersive system, etc. .
It is very interesting to create from scratch if other platforms do not adapt to what you want, and has worked for companies such as Mediaset or Warner Park in Madrid.
eleven- Labpsitec
The Laboratory of Psychology and Technology develops multiple projects of great interest in the field of psychological intervention through virtual reality, as well as augmented reality, telepsychology, serious gaming, etc.
She belongs to the Jaume I University and the University of Valencia, and is headed by Dr. Cristina Botella, Professor of Clinical Psychology who also manages the Psychological Assistance Service (SAP).
One of his projects many projects are"the world of EMMA"; Which seeks to treat disorders associated with stressors and traumas through provoked emotions that help to process, accept and overcome events that have occurred.
They also include projects of phobia to the heights, claustrophobia, agoraphobia, eating disorders, pathological gambling, etc.