A new virtual reality (VR) technology developed by scientists in the United Kingdom was able to help patients with depression become more compassionate and less critical toward their own being.

In a study featured in the British Journal of Psychiatry Open, a team of researchers from the University College London (UCL) discovered that negative thoughts that depressed people often experience can be curbed through role-playing in a VR world.

Patients were allowed to experience a virtual reality scenario wherein they played the role of person providing comfort to distressed child or the one receiving comfort from others as the distressed person.

An earlier study has shown the potential of VR settings in helping people with social problems, such alcoholism or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to resist their urges and take better control of their decision making.

Chris Brewin, a psychology professor at UCL and lead author of the study, explained that their goal was to teach depressed individuals how to become more compassionate and less critical towards themselves.

They saw promising results in their study, especially after a month when some of the participants were able to show better responses during real-life situations.

To find out the efficacy of virtual reality scenarios in helping patients with depression, Brewin and his colleagues examined how 15 individuals with the condition would react to the technology. The participants were between 23 to 61 years old.

Using a VR headset, the patients were placed in an immersive electronic world where they were asked to play the role of an adult offering advice to a distressed child. They were then asked to play the role of the child who was receiving counsel from an adult individual.

The participants went over the same eight-minute session three times over the three-week period of the study. They also received a follow-up session from the researchers one month later.

Brewin and his team found that nine of the depressed patients experienced a reduction of their symptoms one month after the VR sessions, while four of them had considerable reduction in their depression.

While the researchers admit that there is still much work to be done, such as a larger study involving a control group, to confirm their findings, they believe that VR technology can provide a therapeutic solution for depressed patients.

"If a substantial benefit is seen, then this therapy could have huge potential," Brewin pointed out.

"The recent marketing of low-cost home virtual reality systems means that methods such as this could potentially be part of every home and be used on a widespread basis."