Monday 16 November 2020

Week 2: Sensory Integration therapy through Virtual Reality

Sensory Processing Disorder or SPD (originally called Sensory Integration Dysfunction) is a neurological disorder in which the sensory information that the individual perceives results in abnormal responses.

Sensory processing refers to the way the nervous system receives messages from the senses and turns them into responses. For those with Sensory Processing Disorder, sensory information goes into the brain but does not get organized into appropriate responses. Those with SPD perceive and/or respond to sensory information differently than most other people. Unlike people who have impaired sight or hearing, those with Sensory Processing Disorder do detect the sensory information; however, the sensory information gets “mixed up” in their brain and therefore the responses are inappropriate in the context in which they find themselves. Some people are so mildly affected that the disorder is barely noticeable, while others are so impaired they have trouble with daily functioning. In addition, there are many general behaviors and traits that are associated with SPD, eg. agitation, frustration, aggression, low self-esteem, difficulty unwinding or sleeping and appearing out-of-sync with self or others and the environment.

As a help to people with SPD there are new ways of treatment, the one I would like us to discuss this week is done through A Virtual Reality Based Game. Pleas read an article:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326151682_Imaginator_A_virtual_reality_based_game_for_the_treatment_of_sensory_processing_disorders and answer questions below:

 1)  Where you aware of the general behavior change that SPD cause? Do you know anybody with that kind of disorders?

2) What do you think about therapy through a virtual reality based game ? Is it a future of brain and mental disorders therapy?

3) Do you know any other innovative way of treatment that is using not medical devices ?

15 comments:

  1. 1) Were you aware of the general behavior change that SPD cause? Do you know anybody with that kind of disorders?

    I was not aware of the exact changes in behavior caused by SPD. Neurological and mental disorders are severe disorders. People with these disorders need ongoing rehabilitation, which is costly and less accessible than usual in pandemic times. Before reading the article, I had heard of sensory classes because my friend works in a special school and teaches this subject. I have heard from my friend many times that her pupils can be aggressive and have difficulties communicating with people. Some of the children with whom she teaches are depressed. I personally do not know any people with such disorders.

    2) What do you think about therapy through a virtual reality based game ? Is it a future of brain and mental disorders therapy?

    I think this is an interesting idea. Children and adults like modernity and technology, so they may be more interesting than traditional techniques. Virtual reality equipment is not expensive: all you need is a phone and special glasses. A game based on virtual reality can be interesting because it introduces the patient to a different world that he does not know yet and discovers on an ongoing basis.

    3) Do you know any other innovative way of treatment that is using not medical devices ?

    I am not an expert in this field, but I know that my friend uses pillows, skateboards, balls, etc. at work. I think that a mobile EEG band could be used, it is a band that is put on the head and the EEG signal is read by sensors. EEG equipment that is used in medicine, including a cap, gel and electrodes, is different from this band. The use of the game based on the brain-computer interface with the use of this EEG band could be used for sensory therapy. Using your own thoughts, you can control, for example, planes or other objects in a game based on the computer brain interface.

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    1. I think that it's important to raise awareness in society regarding SPD and other similar disorders because without it people suffering form it are misunderstood, pushed away, and in case of children often bullied. While nowadays with appropriate therapy they can easly improve the quality of their lives.
      I think it's also worth to mentioned that the availability of not medical equipment that gather biosensors data, like the EEG band you mentioned or wrist bands, open the door for startups project aiming for mind and body treatments.

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  2. 1) SPD disorder causes in patients e.g. hypersensitivity, insensitivity, or white noise to a certain sense or to multiple senses at once. This can manifest itself in, for example, anxiety states, behavior that arouses a given stimulus (making noises), fascination with given objects and phenomena, lack of response to a given external stimulus, etc. A person with SPD will either avoid stimuli to which he is hypersensitive or stimulate insensitivity of a given sense. Depending on the severity of the disease, this can cause many problems in contacts with other people or the environment. Such a person may not be able to function normally, especially in places with overloaded stimuli such as large groups of people. I don't know anyone with SPD, but the disorder can also be mild, and we may even suffer from it ourselves without realizing it.
    2) I think this is the future of treating neurological diseases. Especially for young people, but not only. Many disorders are related to the functioning of our brain, e.g. anxiety. Virtual reality allows us to move to some place or situation with most of our senses. It is then easier to stimulate the brain to act and put it in a different situation than the typical one to which it could get used to and transfer the experiences achieved to the real world. An example that comes to mind is the treatment of anxiety. With VR, we can put someone on top of the building and make them look down. Such a person is completely safe because he is actually standing on a level floor, and only his brain perceives that he is at a high altitude. Knowing that nothing will happen to us, we can slowly get used to the uncomfortable situation. Virtual reality games also allow us to better focus on what is happening in front of us, because we are "immersed" in this reality. This allows you to cut off distractions.
    3) I've just heard a lot about the use of VR in the treatment of mental illness. Other methods that I know i.e. electroconvulsive therapy or magnetic stimulation rather uses medical devices. I think that maybe a non-innovative but good method is the use of animal therapy, especially among young children, who are more open to contact with them than with doctors.

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    1. It's really fascinating to see how world around us change, a few years back nobody was thinking that VR will be more than just an entertainment, while now is wildly used in therapy. There is a company calls psious that offer over 70 environments that could be used as tools as part of treatment delivered by a mental health professional. They offer therapy for aerophobia, acrophobia, agoraphobia and many others.

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  3. 1) Were you aware of the general behavior change that SPD cause? Do you know anybody with that kind of disorders?
    No, I don't know anyone with such a disorder.I first learned about this disorder.

    2) What do you think about therapy through a virtual reality based game ? Is it a future of brain and mental disorders therapy?
    I think it is very effective for treating such diseases, especially if the patients are children.
    Because, you can simulate any situation using virtual reality, thereby helping patients adapt to the real world. and fight neurological disorders

    3) Do you know any other innovative way of treatment that is using not medical devices ?
    I am not an expert in this topic. and in general I first learned about these types of disorder, but I think you can help patients with any available means, maybe even in the form of an entertaining

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  4. Indeed, children are responding very well for VR treatments, not only ones with SPD, but there are also therapy for pacients with ADHD and Autism spectrum. Even one of them was created in SWPS: https://unicornvr.world/

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  5. 1) Where you aware of the general behavior change that SPD cause? Do you know anybody with that kind of disorders?

    Unfortunately, when it comes to SPD, I don't know the exact symptoms, and I have no idea that it can cause either behavior change. Nobody from famous people comes to mind. It seems to me that people with behavioral disorders are ashamed to talk about it because it is very embarrassing for them.

    2) What do you think about therapy through a virtual reality based game? Is it a future of brain and mental disorders therapy?

    In my opinion, any therapy that gives positive results and advances in combating disorders is certainly very good. Virtual reality can be something interesting and interesting for patients with SPD, because people discover an unknown world and can literally break away from reality.

    3) Do you know any other innovative way of treatment that is using not medical devices?

    I do not know exactly about SPD, but in children with disabilities and during early support for a child's development, the following are used, for example: the world experience room, the Weronika Sherborne development movement, educational kinesiology, dog therapy, music therapy, the method of a good start by Marta Bogdanowicz (the method of a good start by Le Bon Depart).

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  6. 1)Fortunately, I don't know anyone who has this disorder. This is the first time I have heard of it and I am surprised that the people who have it (even to a small extent) are able to find themselves in the modern world because of the huge amount of stimuli we process every day. I can't imagine how it is possible to function if only 1% of them were incorrectly processed.

    2)I think it is possible to use AR/VR to treat certain disorders, although I don't quite understand how it can help in treating SPD if we are only able to affect 2 types of stimuli (hearing and vision) at most. I realize that there are patients affected by "white noise" only for these two senses, but I am not sure that this would have a chance to succeed and deal with the real stimuli that are encountered every day.

    3)Unfortunately not, but this is probably due to my approach. I am a little bit sceptical about therapies that are not drugs, exercises, conversation, and my only "treatment" would be playing a VR game (although an element of pleasant gameplay as a treatment can increase the effectiveness in lazy people who simply don't feel the need to exercise for example in rehabilitation).

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