VIRTUAL REALITY AND INTERACTIVE SIMULATION

Drs. Mark D. Wiederhold and Brenda Wiederhold, for the Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego, California, discussed current advances being made to control pain by integrating the science of the human mind. In the journal, "Pain Medicine," Volume 8, Number S3, 2007, they related that current advances are being made to control pain by integrating both the science of the human mind and the science of pain medications.

Pain is being treated through the use of various psychological techniques, such as distraction by virtual reality environments and by the playing of video games. When users immerse themselves in the virtual world they are experiencing, less attention is left to focus on other issues such as pain. Drs. Wiederhold reviewed the research involving the use of virtual reality in this article and they found correlation between levels of interactivity and immersion in the virtual environments and success in relieving pain.