Inside the Mind of a Schizophrenic Through Virtual Reality

blottsie writes Viscira produces videos and technology simulations for the healthcare industry, and the project I tested called "Mindscape" was created for a pharmaceutical company that wanted to give potential clients insight into what some schizophrenic patients might feel like in a real-life scenario. Unlike audio tests or videos that show you a first-person perspective of schizophrenic experiences, Viscira's demonstration uses the Oculus Rift headset and is entirely immersive. You can look around at each individual's face, and up and down the hallway. Walk through the elevator, and hear voices that appear to be coming from both strangers and your own head.

Comments

Impossible

[BarbaraHudson]

No matter how hard you try, you cannot "get into the mind" of a schizophrenic. Even with the Oculus Rift.

Re:Impossible

[ShanghaiBill]

True, but short of inducing schizophrenia and then being able to cure it instantly, this might be close enough.

Indeed. Just because the simulation is imperfect, that doesn't make it worthless. Schizophrenia affects more than two million Americans. It is the most common permanently debilitating mental disorder. The cost in treatment, foregone income, etc. is over $100B annually in America. It is a leading contributor to homelessness, criminality, and other social disorders. But is also deeply misunderstood. Many people confuse it with split personality disorder, which is unrelated and rare.

So why does the average person need to understand schizophrenia? Because they can vote. Many of our policies toward homelessness and crime, are politically popular but totally misguided. Homeless is not caused by "lack of houses", and homeless shelters don't work well with disruptive people that shout back at the voices in their head. Our prisons are filled with people being "punished" who see no connection between their actions and the consequences.

I had a cousin which schizophrenia. He told me that the best way to understand it was to think about waking from a vivid dream. For about 10 seconds, you are confused about what was the dream and what is reality. Then your mind clears, and you realize that the dream made no sense whatsoever, and it seems crazy that your mind ever considered it to be real. Except if you have schizophrenia, your mind doesn't clear, and the crazy dreams don't go away when you wake up. My cousin committed suicide when he was 29.

Theres already a version for linux!

[nimbius]

Anyone with a recent version of linux can experiece the mind of a schizophrenic with Systemd. Unlike audio tests or videos that show you a first-person perspective of schizophrenic experiences, Systemd allows you to experience the neurosis first hand!