Exploring VR Therapy for PTSD & Substance Abuse in Veterans

This essay explores the application of virtual reality (VR) therapy for treating substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans. It begins by outlining basic research concepts such as qualitative and quantitative analysis, with a focus on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The essay discusses the role of inductive and deductive research approaches, highlighting the selection of the inductive approach for its suitability in analyzing interview data. Action research is defined as a focused effort to improve therapy quality, specifically in the context of VR therapy. The research process is detailed, emphasizing the synergistic relationship between research and clinical practice. The research dimension focuses on analyzing the significance of VR in treating PTSD and substance abuse, acknowledging both its potential benefits and risks. The research purpose is to elucidate VR's role in these treatments, employing both qualitative (secondary data analysis) and quantitative (interviews with psychotherapists) research methods. The chosen research design is descriptive, aligning the study's objectives with the findings. Finally, the essay adopts an interpretivism research paradigm, valuing the multilayered nature of human behavior and the importance of real-life settings in understanding the role of VR therapy.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY
Virtual reality for the treatment of substance abuse and PTSD for veterans
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY
Topic: Virtual reality for the treatment of substance abuse and Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) for veterans
Basic research concepts
The basic research concept that is popular in psychology research is qualitative and
quantitative analysis. However, under the domain of qualitative analysis, Interpretative
phenomenological analysis (IPA) is commonly used in order to critically generate the themes
via subsequent using of the transcript of the interview (Lewis, 2015).
Role of theories and frameworks in the research process
Inductive and deductive are two basic research process. According to Parahoo (2014),
inductive research approach obeys data collection, data observation and analysis of those data
via using effective analytical tools and thereby helping to develop potential theories, which is
relative to the topic. Deductive approach goes with the selection of the theories, followed by
hypothesis testing, analysis of the data and proper implementation of the theories via analysis
of the data along with confirmation of those theories for theoretical evidences. For this
research, the researcher has chosen inductive research approach as it will help in the analysis
of the data collected through the interview.
Action research
Under the light of the above mentioned topic, action research can be defined as an
initiative or inquiry under the context of focused efforts in order to improve the quality or any
therapy or to ascertain the nature of the performance of a particular therapy or theory and in
this case is the virtual reality therapy (Kemmis, McTaggart & Nixon, 2013).

2
PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY
Figure: Different aspects of action research
(Source: Kemmis, McTaggart & Nixon, 2013)
Research process
The research process, which will be used for this research, has been highlighted below
Source: Created by author

3
PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY
Relationship to practice
According to Lewis (2015) research and clinical practice shares a synergistic
relationship with each one depending upon the others. It is ascertained that effective clinical
psychologist will guide their practice depending upon the research findings. Thus elucidation
of the research findings will help to modify the pattern of the treatment of the virtual reality
upon the patients of substance abuse and PTSD.
Research dimension
According to Opriş et al. (2012), virtual reality (VR) is one of the newest type of
treatments that is used to individuals suffering from PTSD or drug abuse. According to Hone-
Blanchet, Wensing and Fecteau (2014), the majority of the researcher is in favor of using
virtual reality for the treatment of PTSD and substance abuse because it offers patients a
stimulated experience that helps them to experience situations that might be traumatic or that
have tendency to generate substance abuse under a controlled or supervised environment.
However, Opriş et al. (2012) is of the opinion that VR treatment is risk because it hallucinates
the brain into believing an hypothetical reality or something which is only a temporary
remedy towards cure. So the research dimension aims towards analyzing the significance of
VR towards the treatment of PTSD and substance abuse.
Research purpose
The purpose of this research will be to elucidate the role of virtual reality towards the
treatment of the substance abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the
veterans.

4
PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY
Research methods
The research method, which will selected for this purpose is both qualitative and
quantitative. According Parahoo et al. (2014), selection of both qualitative quantitative
research methods help to increase the quality of the research and thereby helping the
researcher to perform an in dept analysis of the data. The qualitative research will be
undertaken via the collection and analysis of the secondary data and quantitative research will
be done via conducting interview through open ended-questionnaire among the
psychotherapists to specialize for the treatment of substance abuse and PTSD among the
veterans.
Research design
The research design, which will be chosen for the study, is descriptive research
design. According to Crouch and Pearce (2012), descriptive research design helps to relate
the objective of the study with the findings obtained while conducting the research thereby
helping the researcher to follow a logical flow of information. Descriptive research design is
chosen above exploratory design because exploratory design mainly enlightens the
background information of the problem statement identified which might not be suitable for
the psychology research (Crouch & Pearce, 2012). According to Smith (2015), research
based on psychology must critically relate with the objectives of the research in order to
elucidate a concrete findings.
Research paradigms
The research paradigm that is selected for this research includes interpretivism.
According to Arghode (2012), interpretivism research paradigm is mainly suitable for the
qualitative research design. However, the researcher has selected interpretivism has the main
research paradigm because according to Munhall (2012), interpretivism approach believes

5
PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY
that the human behavior is multilayer and it cannot be determined beforehand under the
citation of the probabilistic models. Moreover, interpretivism is governed by subjectivity
along with study of the human behavior in a real life setting thus helping the researcher to
gauge the role of virtual reality for the treatment of substance abuse and PTSD among the
veterans under the real life settings.

6
PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY
References
Arghode, V. (2012). Qualitative and Quantitative Research: Paradigmatic
Differences. Global Education Journal, 2012(4).
Crouch, C. & Pearce, J., (2012). Doing Research in Design. 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,
NY 10010.
Hone-Blanchet, A., Wensing, T., & Fecteau, S. (2014). The use of virtual reality in craving
assessment and cue-exposure therapy in substance use disorders. Frontiers in human
neuroscience, 8, 844.
Kemmis, S., McTaggart, R., & Nixon, R. (2013). The action research planner: Doing critical
participatory action research. Springer Science & Business Media.
Lewis, S. (2015). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), 473-475.
Munhall, P. (2012). Nursing research. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Opriş, D., Pintea, S., García‐Palacios, A., Botella, C., Szamosközi, Ş., & David, D. (2012).
Virtual reality exposure therapy in anxiety disorders: a quantitative meta‐
analysis. Depression and anxiety, 29(2), 85-93.
Parahoo, K. (2014). Nursing research: principles, process and issues. Palgrave Macmillan.
Smith, J. A. (Ed.). (2015). Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods.
Sage.

7
PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY