Wayne State Expand XR Wins XR Health Care Solution Award For PTSD Therapy

Wayne State’s Expand XR Wins International Recognition in Brussels

Mental healthcare technology achieved a major international milestone when Expand XR, an artificial intelligence and augmented reality platform developed at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, won the 2025 XR Health Care Solution of the Year award at the UnitedXR Europe Conference and Expo held December 8-10 in Brussels, Belgium (WSU’s Expand XR takes world stage, earning top honor for transforming PTSD care). The platform, invented by Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences Arash Javanbakht, M.D., who directs the Stress, Trauma and Anxiety Research Clinic (STARC), blends real surroundings with interactive virtual environments for exposure therapy.

This technology uses the most advance artificial intelligence and augmented reality tech and headsets to help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety walk on their own feet with their therapist in a virtual context overlaid on their real world, and feel safe around humans of diverse age, sex, race and behavior in a grocery store, restaurant, sports event or for first responders at a police or fire station, Dr. Javanbakht said (WSU’s Expand XR takes world stage, earning top honor for transforming PTSD care). The system connects the patient’s AR headset wirelessly to a therapist’s computer, giving clinicians a three-dimensional map to manage feared objects and situations dynamically during treatment sessions.

King’s College London STAR Trial Demonstrates Safety for Psychosis Patients

While virtual reality tools expand clinical environments, researchers in the United Kingdom have broken new ground in treating co-occurring diagnoses. The Study of Trauma And Recovery (STAR) trial, conducted by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, evaluated 305 participants in the largest multi-site randomized controlled trial of trauma-focused therapy for individuals experiencing both psychosis and PTSD (Trauma-focused therapy safely improves PTSD symptoms in psychosis patients). Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the nine-month integrated intervention combined trauma-focused therapy with Cognitive Behavior Therapy for psychosis.

Historically, patients with psychosis faced exclusion from trauma-focused trials due to clinician concerns that directly addressing trauma memories might worsen psychosis symptoms. The STAR trial data disproved that fear, showing that half of the participants receiving the integrated therapy no longer met PTSD criteria post-therapy, compared to just over 20 per cent receiving treatment as usual (Trauma-focused therapy safely improves PTSD symptoms in psychosis patients). Furthermore, the trial recorded exceptionally low disengagement rates at 6.5 per cent, indicating high patient acceptance.

“The results challenge a longstanding gap in mental healthcare, where people with psychosis have been excluded from trauma-focused therapies. Our findings demonstrate that this must change, to ensure those historically denied access can receive evidence-based care.”

Dr Amy Hardy, Reader in Clinical Psychology at King’s and joint-last author and joint-Therapy Lead for the study, via news-medical.net

New APA Guidelines Address Complex Trauma and Sequencing Care

Professional standards are simultaneously evolving to better define and treat complex trauma presentations.

Overcoming Avoidance Through Motion and Wilderness Therapy

High behavioral and cognitive avoidance remains a primary barrier to successful treatment outcomes, particularly among military veterans. Clinical frameworks such as Multi-modular Motion-assisted Memory Desensitization and Reconsolidation (3MDR) seek to overcome this obstacle by replacing sedentary therapy with an active, side-by-side context where patients walk toward trauma-related images in a virtual environment (An Innovative Framework for Delivering Psychotherapy to Patients With Treatment-Resistant Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Rationale for Interactive Motion-Assisted Therapy). By pairing physical movement with dual-attention tasks, the framework aims to facilitate fear extinction and memory reconsolidation.

Similar principles apply in wilderness settings. Thru-hikers and veteran outdoor programs leverage physical endurance and extended time in nature to help participants process difficult life thresholds.