Immersive virtual reality therapy shows a lasting effect of treating autism phobias

Virtual reality has been shown to help children with autism, with nearly 45% of them remaining free of their fears and phobias six months after treatment.

A separate study, also published tomorrow, showed for the first time that treatment is effective in some adults with autism.

The Blue Room, developed by Newcastle University specialists working alongside innovative third-party NeuroTech technology company, allows the team to create a personalized 360-degree environment involving fear that can weaken the autistic person in real life.

In this virtual environment, which does not require goggles, the child can easily explore and navigate different scenarios working with a therapist using iPad commands, while maintaining total control of the situation. .

The research, funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NHRI), is published today in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

"For many children and their families, anxiety can reign over their lives as they try to avoid situations that may trigger fear or phobia for their child," said Professor Jeremy Parr, who led the study.

"Being able to suggest an NHS treatment that works and see the kids cope so well gives hope to families who have very few treatment options for anxiety."

Autism can affect the learning and development of a child, often leading to an alteration of social and communication skills and many also have fears or phobias that can be very distressing but often overlooked. These phobias are thought to affect about 25% of children with autism. In the trial, phobias included public transit, clbadrooms, dogs and balloons.

Newcastle University experts describe the randomized controlled trial of 32 autistic children aged 8 to 14 years old. Half immediately received treatment in the blue room and the other half acted as a control group, receiving deferred treatment six months later.

Accompanied by a psychologist, they followed four sessions a week on a personalized scenario in the blue room. The parents were able to watch the treatment via a video link.

"People with autism may find it difficult to imagine a scene, which is why the Blue Room is so well received.We provide the dreaded situation in a controlled manner through virtual reality and we sit by their side to help them to learn to manage their fears. "says Dr. Morag Maskey, a researcher at the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University.

"It's incredibly rewarding to see the effect it can have for some, to overcome a situation that a week ago would have been so painful."

After receiving the treatment and with the support of their parents, the children were then introduced to the real world scenario.

Two weeks after treatment, research shows that four of the top 16 (25%) had responded to treatment and were able to cope with a specific phobia. This effect remained with a total of six showing improvement after six months (38%), however, one reported a worsening of his phobia. Meanwhile, in the control group, five untreated participants were aggravated within six months.

The control group was then treated in the blue room after this hour. The results showed that globally, 40% of treated children showed improvement at 2 weeks and 45% at 6 months.

This improvement is comparable to other treatments and the team intends to consider further why some do not respond.

For the first time, the Blue Room treatment was offered to adults with autism. In a separate publication in Autism in adulthood by the same team, RV treatment was shown to work in five out of eight autistic adults.

From ages 18 to 57, adults attended four 20-minute sessions in the Blue Room with a computer-generated custom scene. Six months after the sessions, five of the eight participants still had day-to-day improvements in their phobia.

The NHS treatment is accessible to families in the UK through the Northumberland Tyne and Wear Complex Neurodevelopmental Disorders Service, base of the NHS Foundation Trust https://www.ntw.nhs.uk/resource-library / complex neuro-developmental service-NSDC /

Dr. Rajesh Nadkarni, executive medical director at Northumberland, said, "We are proud to be the partner of the Newcastle Blue Room Treatment, which helps people with autism manage their anxiety." Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust has extensive experience in providing nationally recognized autism services, and we welcome this new research demonstrating the positive effects of this highly innovative treatment.

Eddie Nelson is director of Third Eye NeuroTech, the Durham County-based immersive reality technology company that provides Blue Room facilities. He says: "As a business, it's rare that we have the chance to help young people and their families in such a dramatic and tangible way." But what we see with the Blue Room is that young and very worried adults enter four of these specialized sessions, they come out after fighting their fears. "

Specific phobias addressed in the treatment of the Blue Room included: dogs, wasps / bees, lifts, fear of the dark, flying, dolls, balloons, public transport, school and halls of meeting.

Alongside the NHS Service, the University of Newcastle team is continuing its research on the effectiveness and lasting effects of the Blue Room.

Provided by
University of Newcastle