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Between 35-85% of mental health conditions go undetected and undiagnosed, according to the World Health Organization. Enter virtual reality. VR has been used to treat some conditions and it may help diagnose them. Here's how: 1/ wired.trib.al/54YD44f
Virtual reality offers some big advantages: It can create realistic simulations of experiences that may provoke symptoms; and it can do so consistently, making diagnoses more objective–or at least less subjective. 2/
wired.trib.al/54YD44f
wired.trib.al/54YD44f
With some disorders, patients experience symptoms in a personal environment, not in the clinician’s room. VR makes it is possible to immerse patients in an exterior environment while the clinician observes and interviews the patients about symptoms and underlying thoughts. 3/
A study looking to detect early signs of Alzheimer's tested participants’ spatial navigation and memory by having them don a headset and follow a path in a virtual environment (like this one), then trace their footsteps back to their starting point. 4/ wired.trib.al/54YD44f 
Researchers have also used VR to diagnose and treat veterans suffering from PTSD. Participants were shown clips of a simulated foreign military base and a typical American city, while researchers monitored their heart rate and “startle” responses. 5/ wired.trib.al/54YD44f
A VR-based “mirror game,” requiring participants to duplicate the movements, gestures and facial expressions of a virtual avatar, helped early diagnosis of schizophrenia. 6/ wired.trib.al/54YD44f
Another benefit of VR is that it’s cheaper than techniques such as neuroimaging, and is becoming more affordable as headsets get cheaper and more user-friendly, making them more suitable for the small spaces of many clinical settings. 7/ wired.trib.al/54YD44f
To be sure, VR is a long way from being used widely to diagnose mental disorders. But there's a lot of potential, and every reason to suspect that VR will move beyond being an experimental diagnostic tool to a practical, everyday one. Read more here: 9/ wired.trib.al/54YD44f
