MARION, Ill. — The days of lying on a couch staring up at a blank white ceiling and talking about your mental health with your therapist may be coming to an end. Imagine — No, you don’t have to. Just throw on some VR goggles and open your eyes: You’re now alone on the white hot sands of the Caribbean looking out over a crystal blue sea while your therapist discusses your anxiety of crowded places. The beach slowly fills with people, but you don’t mind. They aren’t really there anyway. After enough sessions like this, you could really see yourself going on a real vacation without debilitating anxiety. That isn’t fantasy. That’s reality — virtual reality. And it may be coming soon to the Marion VA Center for Behavioral Health in Marion, Illinois.

VA Immersive, a sector within the Veterans Affairs Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning (OHIL), put on a demonstration of virtual reality and augmented reality technology called Veteran Experience (VXR) Thursday at the Marion VA Center for Behavioral Health for VA staff and veterans.

During the event, participants had a chance to see what the VXR technology was all about….