From healthcare to networking, digitization has changed the lifestyle of people and made it easier. With the introduction of the metaverse, professionals geared up to find its use in various industries, and healthcare is one of them.
In accordance with Precedence Research, the metaverse in the healthcare market is estimated to exceed approximately USD 72.10 billion by the year 2030 growing at a CAGR of 29.89% from the year 2022 to 2030.
Before highlighting the exact potential of the Metaverse in Healthcare, let’s understand what is metaverse.
What is Metaverse?
The metaverse is a huge digital universe which exists in parallel to the physical reality. It is basically a collection of virtual worlds where people can interact, communicate, play games, and shop. Metaverse gives a person mesmerizing immersive experiences and allows them to share with others when you cannot be with them physically. Thus, you can say the metaverse is a fusion of AR, VR, and 3D technologies.
Metaverse Development allows users from different locations to connect via a holographic experience in a virtual space. Interactions in the meta world will likely be a top-most version of current experiences in VR. It can mimic a real-world community where you can make new friends, socialize, and maintain relationships.
The introduction of the metaverse in healthcare can create a lot of opportunities for patients to consult mental health professionals by taking the form of ‘avatars’ in simulated environments. The possibilities of virtual simulation are immense. This new technology has the potential to create various new avenues for the treatment of many mental health disorders.
Metaverse in Healthcare: The Next Frontier
Metaverse in healthcare sector addresses problems such as geographical limitations, virtual wellness applications, loneliness problems in the younger and the elder population, and mental health uses.
Metaverse is undoubtedly a promising concept in the healthcare industry and drives the interaction between the patient as well as the doctor. Metaverse Development seems to be expanded in some major healthcare applications as stated below –
- Metaverse in Mental HealthMany companies in the virtual reality domain are working on mental healthcare applications as it opens up a wide range of benefits. Metaverse technology is a combination of VR, AR, and AI that can work in favor of mental healthcare. This high-end technology creates a digital space that is helpful to design the environment where a mental health patient is comfortable interacting with a psychologist. Metaverse technology can work really well with patients suffering from severe mental diseases which affect memories.
Furthermore, the metaverse on mental health can be a perfect tool to treat mental disorders like cravings, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder. Also, meditating in a virtual reality environment is the best way to block distractions, thus elevating mental health.
- Metaverse in Surgical OperationsThe use of technologies like AR, VR, and robotics, as well as minimally invasive surgeries in the medical sector, is on the rise at leading clinics and hospitals. Moreover, AR or VR is a fascinating technology which helps doctors to control systems as well as connect with data efficiently while performing surgical operations.
Metaverse has helped businesses in the healthcare sector to enhance patient care and overcome complicated challenges. Therefore, the development of Metaverse for mental health is focussing on providing realistic interactions between people & to design a virtual healthcare space. The applications of Metaverse provide countless benefits to enterprises in the healthcare sector, which is why it is highly trending nowadays.
- Metaverse in Medical TrainingYou must be glad to know that metaverse can do wonders in medical training and education. It provides a virtual space for students, irrespective of geographical location to interact and examine a detailed outlook of animal anatomy, and conduct research.
Teaching medical courses virtually & simulation training provides great hands-on experience for efficient medical training. Since the metaverse is at its primary stage and it is expected in the near future it will implement in every medical school or college. In addition, physicians can leverage VR to reach other medical staff in case of emergencies, medical treatment, and diagnosis.
- Metaverse in Reshaping the Fitness ZoneThe rapid adoption of this immersive technology in the medical fitness sector has its share in such exponential growth. In fact, the metaverse is showing its magic in medical training as well. Till now, the fitness sector has been paddling via using the conventional ways of training that include yoga, fitness coaching centers, gym, etc.
In the fitness metaverse space, people can meet their fitness trainers and learn new exercises. Fitness instructor avatars will guide people on how to do every exercise, and this can also consist of many fitness dimensions like martial arts, yoga, or even weights.
Metaverse – New Hope for Mental Health
There are many trials going on involving the treatment of psychiatric disorders with the help of therapeutic tools in the metaverse but those have not yet been reported. However, VR, MR, and AR are being used majorly for the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders.
Covid-19 pandemic witnessed several changes. One of them is moving towards online health support. Telemedicine offers a patient better support to patients at a lower cost. Moreover, the patients can get access to the same anywhere.
Many Metaverse events like musical performances are planned. These shows have the potential to have a similar impact on people as real-life events. The same logic can be applied to mental health care. VR technology has long been used to treat mental illnesses. Patients may get great advantages from Metaverse technology, which combines the best aspects of AR and VR technology. Let’s discuss some trending applications of metaverse on mental health.
Deep Dive Into the Popular Applications of VR and AR in Mental Health
The primary benefit of VR simulations lies in the fact that real-life situations that are hard to replicate in person can be recreated in cyberspace. The shortage of mental health experts can also be handled since certain VR simulations can eliminate the requirement for the physical presence of providers, thus allowing them to participate remotely from distant locations.
Anxiety, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder
Socially anxious people benefited substantially from a VR social skills training session, it allowed them to engage as well as acquire skills in communication, which boosted their self-esteem. In fact, therapy in controlled VR environments has also shown some success in treating phobias.
Autism
Cognitive therapy using VR technology for patients with autism has also shown positive results. Moreover, the studies performed at the University of Texas and Northwestern University’s Psychiatry Department have successfully run the trials by using VR programs that use avatars to simulate job interviews as well as meetings. They were proven to be successful in enhancing life skills, and improvement in concentration, cognition, and memory.
Alzheimer’s disease
The unique thing about VR technology is that it has been used to test navigational skills and enhance cognition in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Metaverse is showing promise as a new treatment option for common mental health conditions. Therefore, Metaverse and mental health are hot topics of discussion nowadays.
Stress and pain management
There are some scenarios that can be played out in VR to alleviate stress and pain by offering simple forms of distraction. Studies have shown that VR applications were more effective as compared to conventional therapy in the management of depression, anxiety, pain, and fatigue.
Last Words:
Metaverse has a promising outlook in the healthcare sector due to its wide range of applications and usages. Metaverse is designed to leverage AR, VR, and AI technologies to provide positive patient outcomes, as well as help physicians, diagnose people better. If you want to know more about the metaverse on mental health, talk with the experts of Antier. Contact us today, we would love to hear from you.
