On The Groundbreaking Potential of Virtual Medicine
Our VR team at Cedars-Sinai has spent years studying the medical power of the mind, and in VRx, Dr. Brennan Spiegel reveals a revolutionary new kind of care: virtual medicine. It offers the possibility of treating illnesses without solely relying on intrusive surgeries or addictive opioids.
Virtual medicine works by convincing your body that it's somewhere, or something, it isn't. It's affordable, widely available, and has already proved effective against everything from burn injuries to stroke to PTSD. Spiegel shows how a simple VR headset lets a patient with schizophrenia confront the demon in his head, how dementia patients regain function in a life-size virtual town, and how vivid simulations of patients' experiences are making doctors more empathic.
The book explains how VR is helping to deliver babies, enabling soldiers to cope with the mental scars of war, and offering a new treatment for eating disorders. And in an unexpected way, VR is strengthening the humanity in healthcare by reminding doctors that patients are not broken machines, but are people whose subjective lives matter. VR is not just for gamers anymore; it is a new type of mind-body medicine.
Named by Wired Magazine as one of the 8 best science books of 2020, VRx is a revelatory account of the connection between our bodies and ourselves. In an age of overmedication and depersonalized care, it offers no less than a new way to heal
VRx is published by Basic Books, NY, and is available for order using the button below.
