Using Virtual Reality and CBT for Fibromyalgia

A group of researchers are working to create an app that would combine elements of virtual reality and cognitive behavioral therapy to help treat fibromyalgia.

According to this article, this new therapy device works via a PDA or smartphone and tracks the amount of exercise and movement you get on a daily basis and combines that with data entered by the patient answering a series of questions about their mood and pain level that day.

This is checked on a weekly visit to the psychologist treating the patient for pain management and uses a virtual reality model to guide the patient through various visual and audio inputs to induce positive moods.

From the sounds of it once the patient learns how to use it with the therapist they will be able to use it on their own as well. While it may sound a little hokey it’s not much different from many other cognitive behavioral therapies which are already being used.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy  for Fibromyalgia is not uncommon – it basically is a learning process to make you rethink how you feel pain. Basically you learn to ignore it; which I think is something that most of us with chronic pain learn how to do on our own to some degree.

I know that I have to stop and think about my pain level when I’m asked at physical therapy or by a doctor. I live at about  5 out of 10 on the pain scale or higher. If it’s under at 7 I can ignore it and move on about my day. It’s what you learn to do when you live with things like daily migraines, muscle or nerve pain if you want to survive.

Unfortunately, not everyone can or will do this. Many people can not (on their own) learn how to turn off the pain meter and therefore feel every bit of pain that comes through to them. Add that to something like Fibro where basically your nerves are constantly firing and your pain meter never turns off, it can be very difficult to live with.

For instance, I needed help from a psychologist to use CBT to help me learn to deal with anxiety and stop negative/ruminating thinking. I can’t say I stopped completely but I greatly reduced it to the point where it’s not the norm.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with any therapy is getting the patient to use it. In many cases it may be that they don’t know it exists and in others it may be that they can’t pay for it (whether due to prohibitive cost or because it is not covered by insurance).

This article was written in 2010 and I’ve not been able to find any updates, but given the major improvements in technology since then it seems like we should have some apps around that accomplish this by now (2019). Have you encountered any you’d recommend?