By Lee Mannion
LONDON, July 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – About 100 dementia sufferers in Britain will take part in government-backed trials using virtual reality to help recall lost memories, the firm behind the technology said on Tuesday.
Virtual reality (VR) headsets allow people with dementia to watch films that take them to popular seaside resorts, a 1940s sweetshop or a 1950s street party, to recall thoughts and emotions and help them re-engage with relatives and carers.
“If people remember more of their past, remember more of themselves, it just helps with overall mental wellbeing,” Arfa Rehman, co-founder of Virtue, which created the software, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is testing the new form of reminiscence therapy – where films are played on a smartphone in an inexpensive virtual reality headset – in several hospitals and care homes across the country, she said.
Dementia is caused when the brain is damaged by strokes or diseases such as Alzheimer’s. People with dementia can suffer from memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language.
There are 850,000 people with dementia in Britain, with that number estimated to rise to 1 million by 2025, according to the Alzehimer’s Society, a charity.
