Comparing the Therapeutic Effects of Using Traditional Methods and Virtual Reality Headset in the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety

As virtual technology continues to receive rising popularity particularly in the gaming industry, scholars have argued for its potential use in other fields including education, engineering and medicine. Over years, researchers have examined evidence and proposed the application of virtual reality in treatment of mental health conditions. However, even though there is growing evidence on the use of VR to treat mental illnesses such as depression, it is not clear yet how the VR incorporated therapies compared with traditional approaches to managing the conditions as far as benefits are concerned. This report undertook an evaluation of the current evidence with the aim of comparing the efficacy of VR therapies over conventional therapies. The findings show that there is strong evidence supporting the use of VR in mental health care especially in managing mental illness such as depression, anxiety and PSTD. However, the findings on their efficacy over conventional approaches in terms of cost effectiveness are mixed. This also few studies examining the cost effectiveness of VR. As such, more research is required to validate the benefits of VR in the management of mental conditions.