Source Entry #3 – ZiXuan Wu

RAB Proposal

My research question is this: Can VR be used as a medication for mental health? I’m very interested in this topic because I find this idea very innovative and can create simulations that we otherwise cannot do in real life. VR can be a tool for entertainment but what about as a medical resource? VR has been used as a way to bring entertainment, but recently has been used to treat patients with PTSD. Can it be used to treat chronic pain patients? Does it even work? VR can give us a glimpse into how to treat mental disorders, from veterans of wars, to the millions of patients suffering from chronic pain. VR is being used to transport the patients to their most traumatic experience, and finally help them realize that moment is over. In this research, I intend to present the effects of VR and why it should be used as a medication. I will show why it is effective to combat PTSD.

Source Entry 3

Part 1 : MLA Citation

Thomas, Zoe, “How VR Therapy Helps Trauma Patients Confront Fears” Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2023. WSJ News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6360-N8z1pk 

Part 2: Summary

In the video, “How VR Therapy Helps Trauma Patients Confront Fears”, we are first given a glimpse into the industry by the host Zoe Thomas, who interviews health reporter, Brianna Abott, about VR Therapy. They first discuss what are the goals of virtual reality therapy and what issues they’re trying to address. They say that mental health therapists are trying to look into VR, and introducing patients to something called “VR exposure therapy” which is a virtual version of “exposure therapy” where they can expose themselves to the traumatic event that first caused the disorder in the first place, in an attempt to relieve that trauma. They move on to talk about whether this treatment is meant for a specific group of people, or if companies can start moving this towards civilians as well. Abott reveals that it can be done for anyone who has trauma, and uses it for an example of someone who has a fear of heights. She explains that it was first primarily used for veterans, and are now trying to expand towards everyday people as well. Thomas asks, “Can you describe how this works?”, of which Abott responds, “Most people have to go to a clinic and say they have to use the military sort of base scenario called Brave Mind.” Abott explains that Brave Mind is the VR application that the clinicians currently use for veterans, and put them in a base military scenario, of which the clinician is then able to change what details are in the scenario, altering them to the trauma that veterans experienced in the past, such as what vehicle they’re driving of what clothes they wore. Thomas asks “Can you give an example of a clinician using VR?” Abott says “Dr. Deborah Bedell, who is at the University of Central Florida for the Restores clinic, and uses the Brave Mind system, but started getting patients asking for situations that they currently don’t have.” They continue to explain that in order to resolve this, they started taking pictures of all these places, where they then hand them over to programmers who put these settings into the VR system.  “So there are some limitations, including that a lot of the research shows that the research works about as well as traditional therapy”, Abott says. She simply reveals that VR can be a tool that clinicians can use, mainly because of the cost. With regular exposure therapy, there might be some issues they can’t recreate because of the cost, however, with the addition of VR, they can recreate it inside the virtual world instead. The final question Thomas asks is “Should people be concerned where the data, which all this personal information about one’s trauma, is stored or shared with a company?” Abott does not give a very clear answer, saying that the data being used is something that will have to be “figured out” 

Part 3: Rhetorical analysis

The genre of “How VR Therapy Helps Trauma Patients Confront Fears” is a video piece. The host, Zoe Thomas, is credible because they is a host for the wall street journal, and gives direct interviews that are revealed to the public by experts. The interviewee, Brianna Abott, is a credible source as a health reporter. This is given in an informative tone, because Thomas gives several specific questions, such as how VR Therapy works, and Abott, as an expert in the field, gives informative answers. Abott uses logos, because as an expert in the field, her answers give more credibility than others. She also uses ethos by mentioning other researchers in the field, including insider information about Brave Mind. This source is credible because the Wall Street Journal is considered by many studies to be credible and unbiased, having won 39 Pulitzer Prizes. 

Part 4: Notable Quotes 

“Dr. Deborah Bedell, who is at the University of Central Florida for the Restores clinic, and uses the Brave Mind system, but started getting patients asking for situations that they currently don’t have.” – Abott

“So there are some limitations, including that a lot of the research shows that the research works about as well as traditional therapy” – Abott

 “Should people be concerned where the data, which contains all this personal information about one’s trauma, is stored or shared with a company?” – Thomas