The Wire with Manny

Virtual reality has been around for quite a while now. It was created in the late 1960’s and became commercially available in the 1990s. However, Virtual Reality is still a very new technology that is continuing to be explored in many different avenues. One of those avenues, for example, is in treating mental health conditions. According to a new study led by Computer Science Senior Lecturer, Dr. Nilufar Baghaei, and co-authored by PhD student Vibhav Chitale, VR has been found to be an effective treatment method for anxiety and depression. This study examined the ways VR interventions and exposure can affect a person’s mental health, and how effective they have been as a treatment method. 

Zazi spoke with the lead researcher in this study, Dr. Nilufar Baghei. She is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and the Director of Games and Extended Reality Lab at Massey University. Her research interests include Game-based Learning, XR, and AI in Education and Persuasive Technology. Zazi spoke with her to hear more about this research surrounding Virtual Reality and mental health, to see what this new research could mean for the future of mental health treatments. 

Last Friday the government announced it’s Covid-19 Protection Framework. Aotearoa will move to the new framework when 90 percent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated in each DHB region. However, critics have said that the 90 percent vaccination target for DHBs is unfair for Māori and Pacific communities. This is because Māori and Pacific vaccination rates across the country are still significantly lower than non-Māori and non-Pacific.

News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston speaks to Dr Rhys Jones, a public health physician and senior lecturer in Māori health at the University of Auckland about this critique. They discuss Dr Jones' position on the government’s new traffic light system, what Māori and Pacific vaccination rates are looking like and whether the 90 percent threshold is equitable. 

Compulsory Treatment Orders, or CTO’s, are legally mandated orders which require mentally ill patients to undergo psychiatric treatment. CTO’s have been regarded as a contentious and coercive form of mental health treatment for patients struggling with serious mental illnesses, as the practice has been criticised for imposing restrictions on patients which impact their own personal freedom.  

A study from University of Otago that explored CTO’s found that the treatment leads to fewer and shorter hospital admissions. Joe talks to Dr Ben Beaglehole, a Senior Lecturer from the University of Otago and co-author of the study, on the matter.

Ilena had her regular catch up with Shane Henderson, who this week talked about how water restrictions in Auckland will ease from tomorrow. Auckland has been under varying forms of restriction since May last year after a long period of drought, but recent rainfall events have had a positive impact on Auckland’s water stores. 

Shane also talked about the new bipartisan Labour and National announcement which aims to make it easier to build houses and intensify close to city centres.