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.
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