The Kaohsiung Medical University Neuroscience Research Center on Monday introduced a new dementia therapy that uses virtual reality (VR) to recreate patients’ living experiences and reactivate long-term memories, to help lower their aggression levels.
At the premiere of a short film about Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia, the center unveiled the therapy, dubbed “the therapy of nostalgia,” as part of an effort to raise public awareness about the affliction.
In Taiwan, one in 12 people aged 65 or older suffers from dementia, the center said, adding that effective treatment requires pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
The animated film — produced by a team headed by Andrew Wang (王惠鈞), a professor at Academia Sinica, and overseen by the center — uses simple language and illustrations to explain complex scientific concepts without overburdening its audience, the center said.
Explaining the new therapy, center director Yang Yuan-han (楊淵韓) said that many old men enjoy talking about their military experiences.
For them, revisiting the past through immersion in VR environments has therapeutic effects, stabilizes their mood and reduces dementia-related aggression, Yang added.
If the therapy can make use of 5G technology, production costs would be lower and access for patients would be easier, Yang said.
The standard version of the therapy features collective memories or interests shared by many older people, Yang said, adding that this would take into account the typical environments in which they grew up.
However, the VR environments can be customized and be based upon a patient’s background, he said, adding that this would usually take months of work, including visits to a patient’s home.
University president Jong Yuh-jyh (鐘育志) said that the therapy is an achievement of interdisciplinary collaboration.
The combination pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies, including the new therapy, can stimulate patients’ cognitive functions, delay the progression of the disease and improve the quality of care, Jong said.
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
The Supreme Court today rejected an appeal filed by former Air Force officer Shih Chun-cheng (史濬程), convicted of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage, finalizing his sentence at two years and two months for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法). His other ruling, a ten-month sentence for an additional contravention, was meanwhile overturned and sent to the Taichung branch of the High Court for retrial, the Supreme Court said today. Prosecutors have been notified as Shih is considered a flight risk. Shih was recruited by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence officials after his retirement in 2008 and appointed as a supervisor
RSS