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Virtual Medicine

Dr. Brennan Spiegel at the Virtual Medicine Conference: the effect of Wild Dolphin VR is remarkable

By News
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In March, the Cedars-Sinai hospital organized the second Virtual Medicine Conference in Los Angeles. While we could not be physically present this year, the Dolphin Swim Club was highlighted by the director of Health Services Research (and GI doctor) Dr Brennan Spiegel. In an introductory keynote speech, he explained our current understanding of pain and anxiety and the healing effects of Virtual Reality therapy, using various examples, including the Dolphin Swim Club.

Counteracting the ruminating mind

Using Wild Dolphin VR as an example, Dr Brennan Spiegel explains Virtual Reality’s ability to counteract the ruminating mind. He explained that a Virtual Reality experience is like taking a psychedelic. It has the ability to temporarily dissolve the ego-self, allowing insights that normally would not receive mind space.

Dr Brennan Spiegel: ‘We use the 360 video content of the Dolphin Swim Club all the time in our patients. Just recently I had a patient who was hospitalized for abdominal pain and anxiety. She had had every test: she had had an endoscopy, a CT scan, a blood test… And everything was normal. We showed her the Wild Dolphin VR experience. And after about four minutes she said… “I think I know why I have this pain. It’s my brother. He had stomach cancer and he died. And I’m sure I do too, and I’m going to die like he did.” And I said: “but we’ve been in your stomach, you don’t have stomach cancer.” And she said: “I know that, but I have not been willing to accept that. These dolphins are telling me I need to. I could have been on the couch for a year and I wouldn’t have come to this conclusion.” It’s remarkable! We’ve seen this over and over again. It doesn’t work with all people and all times. But when it works, it works.’

Interested in the full keynote? You can watch it here.
Do you want to know more about Virtual Reality in healthcare? You can read more about its healing effects on our Medical VR page.

Wild dolphins in Albuquerque

Wild dolphins in Albuquerque

By News, Special Projects
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Dogwood

In February 2019 our research assistant Georgia Smith accompanied the Dolphin Swim Club’s Marijke & Benno to California to start a collaboration with the Chariot Project in Stanford Children’s Hospital. Georgia is an MSc Human-Animal Interaction student from the University of Stirling (UK), and was provided with a scholarship by SCAS
During her research at Stanford, Georgia came into contact with Melissa Winke.
Melissa is the owner of Dogwood Therapy Services and President of Animal Assisted Intervention International.
She was very interested in her patients swimming with our wild dolphins.
And so Georgia and the dolphins made their way to Albuquerque!

“The dolphins are amazing.  I can see the applications for this could be huge for so many people.”

Dogwood works with people with a variety of disabilities, to participate in activities that are meaningful to them regardless of physical, cognitive or psychiatric disabilities. Georgia helped 22 of their patients to experience the virtual wild dolphins. It turned out the be a special day with so much joy!

Wild dolphins in Albuquerque

Georgia prepared a questionnaire about how the children experienced their first encounter with our wild dolphins. And while some of them were initially worried about sharks, they all had a wonderful time.
“You really feel like you are there.”
“The dolphins are cute – I like that the divers are saving us from the sharks.”
“I felt my breathing slow and calm. It made me want to go to a lake where we always used to go to. It brought back memories of that.”

And their reply to the question if they would like to do it again?
“Oh my god, thousand times over, every day!”


Photos courtesy of Melissa Winkle

Enlisting Virtual Reality to Ease Real Pain — The Wall Street Journal

By In the news
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The Wall Street JournalToday was a big day for the Dolphin Swim Club because we made it to one of the most influential and wide-read magazines worldwide. We are delighted to share this article, published in The Wall Street Journal, on the exciting possibilities of Virtual Reality within healthcare. The article mentioned our Virtual Reality experience of swimming with wild dolphins. Readers were offered a short VR-demo as well as a video of a young patient experiencing dolphin magic to help ease the pain. We are so proud that the readers of The Wall Street Journal had the opportunity to meet our wild dolphins!

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Swimming with dolphins in hospital – NRC

By In the news
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Een man met virtual reality bril kijkt omhoog op een open pleinThese days, Virtual Reality is used more and more for medical purposes. An example of one of these applications is to relieve pain. Due to the immersive power of virtual reality, patients experience less pain. This may lead to less use of medication and thus improve patient well-being. And of course, a drug-free medicine has no environmental impact! Which is great news for our wild dolphin friends. We are excited that Dutch newspaper NRC once again mentioned us in this article about the use of VR in the medical world.

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Project Brave Heart

By In the news
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Lauren Schneider, clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, is exploring the impact of VR therapy in a pilot study called Project Brave Heart. The study aims to see if pediatric cardiology patients who participate in a pre-procedure virtual reality (VR) experience have less anxiety and stress than patients who don’t participate. The study includes sending a VR headset home with patients who have a scheduled cardiac catheterization procedure so they can learn about the procedure and practice relaxation techniques at home. Although these catheterizations are outpatient procedures, catheterization patients must undergo general anaesthesia. Doctors find the experience can cause stress and anxiety for patients, especially if they’re young.

Although VR technology is expanding into medical settings, research into its health care benefits is in the early stages, and it’s believed that no one has studied its impact on children with congenital heart diseases. We are happy to see this research has been shared by multiple platforms. The full articles can be seen on the links below.

Stanford Children's Health      Business Wire      Virtual Reality Magazine

More than a game – NRC

By In the news
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Man staat op de boeg van een schip en kijkt in zijn virtual reality brilRecently, the psychiatric patients admitted to the University Medical Hospital in Groningen (UMCG), can swim with “wild” dolphins. The footage of the Dolphin Swim Club is used in their treatment of depression, psychosis and anxiety disorders. Psychiatrist Wim Veling: ‘Patients with psychological problems often have difficulties to relax. Stress enhances a lot of these psychological problems. This VR experience helps to reduce stress by immersing patients in a serene underwater environment surrounded by dolphins.’
Language: Dutch

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MayDay Fund – PCMag

By In the news
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Een dokter met een schrijfblok in zijn handLast September, we flew to Los Angeles to present our project at a conference about Virtual Reality in pain management. The conference was organised by the MayDay Fund in collaboration with Stanford University. “PCMag got a quick live demo before they went onstage, and it’s beautiful. After a sudden immersion into cool waters, wild dolphins swim so close you feel as if you could touch them. A few moments amongst the palliative soothing melange of sonar clicks from the dolphins and sensuous deep seascape sounds, and dopamine and serotonin levels do rise significantly. You can see why this is gathering traction with Nordic healthcare professionals like the Norwegian Cancer Society.”

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UMCG starts virtual swimming with dolphins — Omrop Fryslân

By In the news
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A pod of dolphinsSwimming with wild dolphins in Virtual Reality as a therapy for patients suffering from, for example, autism or depression. The idea comes from the artist Marijke Sjollema, from Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. She set off to film wild dolphins in Egypt in 2015. The University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG) embraced the project immediately. The hospital starts with a study of the effects of this new drug free medicine.
Language: Frisian & Dutch

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UMCG interested in virtual swimming – Omrop Fryslân

By In the news
Reading Time: < 1 minutes

Woman with an occulus headsetThe hospital UMCG in Groningen shows interest in the Virtual Reality project of the Dolphin Swim Club. They have developed a programme that makes it possible to actually swim with dolphins. The art project also has a scientific impact. Swimming with dolphins is sometimes used as a form of therapy, especially for autism and depression. The content of the Dolphin Swim Club is filmed so realistically, patients feel as if they truly swim with the dolphins and that should have a positive effect on the treatment. The UMGC will investigate the results of the programme over the next two years.

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