Virtual Reality as a Moderator of Psychedelic Therapy

Description:
Psychedelic assisted psychotherapy has seen a resurgence in both research and clinical applications since the turn of the decade. Most therapeutics tools, aids and complementary services to support the process remain analog. XR has emerged as a promising candidate to create the immersive, all encompassing environments to help modulate the experience, reduce therapist load and act as a tool for ongoing therapeutic exploration. This was first described in the academic literature by Ms Sekula and Dr Puspanathan in their 2022 paper, "Virtual Reality as a Moderator of Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy". Since, their theories have led to the development of Enosis Therapeutics' self guided psychedelic integration program. Dr Puspanathan is a consultant psychiatrist and psychedelic therapist utilising VR as a therapeutic adjunct in a range of clinical scenarios with a special focus on it's potential for modulating the set, setting and integration of psychedelic therapy. This talk will explore the synergistic mechanisms between VR and psychedelics, the use cases for immersive tech in psychedelic therapy and explore a case study of how Enosis' VR product is being utilised in psychedelic clinical trials.

Speaker:
Prash P