Psychedelic replications in virtual reality and their potential as a therapeutic instrument: an open-label feasibility study

Abstract

Research into psychedelics has seen a renaissance in the last twenty years. Recent work has shown promising results for therapeutic benefits of these substances. One popular view claims that these benefits are mediated by the subjective experiences induced by psychedelics. Based on this, we designed a virtual reality experience, Psyrreal, that mimics the phenomenological components of psychedelic and mystical experiences as well as deep meditative states. This experience was implemented in an augmented therapy intervention to investigate whether a virtual replication of such subjective experiences could also lead to therapeutic benefits. We report results from an open-label feasibility study in people with symptoms of mild-to-moderate depression which indicate that Psyrreal has potential for alleviating depressive symptoms. We also discuss the specific advantages of such VR-augmented interventions and the possible mechanisms of their therapeutic benefits. This work proposes a potential novel method using virtual reality to augment the treatment of depressive symptoms as well as to precisely investigate the mediating subjective factors of the therapeutic effects of psychedelic substances.