METAVERSE PSYCHOTHERAPY
METAVERSE HYPNOSIS
Imagine that you can access a fully immersive therapy session form at home. Imagine you would suffer from anxiety or shame and you don’t feel ready to go to a psychotherapist and ask for an appointment, only to get told that the next free spot is in half a year. And when you meet your therapist you will maybe find out that you do not even like him.
How would it be, when in the future we can connect much more easily through VR or AR glasses and could meet in a virtual world like the Metaverse?
In this blog I want to start to discover how this is going to become reality and what steps we have to go on this way.
What danger for mental health lies in the inevitable formation of the Metaverse? Let’s discuss it.
What is the Metaverse?
The Metaverse is the next evolution of the internet. There are 2 aspects to the Metaverse:
- It is a 3D Internet
- It connects all layers of the digital and the tangible world
There are also assumptions that can or can not come true (right away):
- The Metaverse is heavily reliant on VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality)
- The Metaverse is built on Blockchain technology
- The Metaverse is owned by its users (NFTs, Web 3.0)
Why Metaverse Psychotherapy
People are quick to dismiss new ideas, but we’re already making strides towards Metaverse psychotherapy. During the pandemic, many practitioners were forced to use services like Zoom and other platforms to make their service available. It is that spirit of easy access in the digital age that we need to cultivate so we can reach people who need help where they are.
The Metaverse can be a place of psychoeducation and therapy, where practitioners from all over the world can work together. There are no constraints by space, commute time and working hours. There is no need for a clinical setting. People in crisis need help and support outside of typical working hours and settings, and the Metaverse can cater to this.
Obviously, the Metaverse therapy has its limitations, but if all we can do is provide therapy in the tangible world, then we have already done a lot.
