Virtual worlds — simulated on-screen environments — have been used to help reduce post-combat stress in soldiers returning from Iraq and to help people overcome phobias, such as the fear of flying, fear of public speaking, and fear of heights. Now, virtual reality researcher Patrick Bordnick, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work, is using the technology to help those struggling with substance abuse.

“As a therapist, I can tell you to pretend my office is a bar, and I can ask you to close your eyes and imagine the environment, but you’ll know that it’s not real,” Bordnick says. “In this virtual environment you are at a bar or at a party or in a real-life situation. What we found was that participants had real-life responses.”

Those real-life responses are the cravings sparked by virtual environments that are designed to be tempting to alcohol-dependent patients. The patients experience these environments by wearing virtual reality (VR) helmets equipped to guide them through bars or parties or situations with alcohol. To push their buttons further, their own favorite drink is part of the 18-minute scenario. While this might sound sadistic, the goal is to raise participants’ awareness by having them use game pads to rate the cravings and attention to alcohol details that this virtual world arouses in them. Then they can learn to overcome and cope with these cravings in a safe, therapeutic setting.

“What we found was that the VR environments were real enough that [the participants’] cravings were intensified,” Bordnick says. “So now we can develop coping skills [and] practice them in those very realistic environments until those skills are working tools for them to use in real life.”