VR group therapy brings human support home

Put on the headset, enter therapy: How VR is changing trauma treatment

ynet – Culture

What happened: An Israeli initiative is integrating virtual reality and AI into mental health care to address growing needs, particularly for trauma survivors. A project from startup Neao and Sheba Medical Center provides anonymous, remote group therapy sessions.

Key points:

• Participants use avatars to remain anonymous in weekly group sessions, which are led by a professional facilitator in virtual environments.
• The initiative also promotes the FDA-approved PRISM system, which uses AI and neurofeedback to help patients regulate brain activity.

Read article →

TODAY’S NEWS BITES

AI-calculated brain age predicts dementia risk years before doctors can see it

Medical Xpress

A new study in Neurology suggests that the difference between a person's chronological age and their brain's apparent age on brain scans might predict future dementia risk. This AI-calculated measure could be more sensitive for detecting subtle changes than the visual rating scales currently used in memory clinics.

Read article →

Opinion | The Limits of Unauthorized-Practice in Regulating Mental Health AI

By Roee Amir, Vardit Ravitsky and I. Glenn Cohen
MD candidate and attorney; President and CEO, The Hastings Center; Professor of Law, Harvard Law School · Petrie-Flom Center

What the authors argue: Medical and legal scholars Roee Amir, Vardit Ravitsky and I. Glenn Cohen argue that policing chatbots that claim to be doctors addresses only the clearest cases of unlicensed medical practice.

The harder question, they say, is when an ordinary chatbot conversation becomes medical care—even without an explicit claim to professional credentials.

Read article →