알코올 중독의 가상현실치료

Virtual Reality Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder

Virtual reality therapy (VRT) is a type of innovative psychotherapy that aims to improve a patient’s psychiatric symptom through a therapeutic interaction between the computer system and the patients. Along with the treatment of anxiety disorders, such as specific phobia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), VRT has also been applied to addictive disorders, including alcohol use disorder. Virtual reality (VR) technology for alcoholics has primarily been focused on two goals-the objective assessment for cue reactivity and treatment for reducing alcohol craving. The current VR alcohol treatments include cue exposure therapy, social skill training and aversive therapy. The type of virtual reality therapy can be variable according to the patient’s characteristics, such as duration of illness, type of personality, severity of alcohol craving and drinking pattern. Besides the reduction of alcohol craving, VRT can be variously developed with several cognitive behavioral techniques, such as relaxation train-ing, social skill training and distraction. Ultimately, it will eventually contribute to widen the range of care for alcoholics from prevention to rehabilitation.