VCU study shows new virtual reality program reduces aggression in youth

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A new study from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has found that a new program using virtual reality has been shown to reduce conduct problems, aggression and other antisocial behaviors.

A mental health intervention that uses virtual reality to teach social-emotional learning skills to youth has been shown to release aggressive behaviors. The program is called "Impact VR," and was developed by VCU psychologist, Nicholas Thomson.

Thomson is the director of research for the Injury and Violence Program at VCU Health and said that this is his first virtual reality program designed for youth with conduct disorders and callous-unemotional traits.

"Conduct disorder is one of the most common childhood disorders, yet few treatments work — especially for youth with limited access to intensive care," Thomson said. "This study shows that utilizing virtual reality technology could help change that. For a brief and low-cost treatment, this is a major breakthrough in youth mental health."

According to a release from VCU, conduct disorder is described as a mental health disorder found in children and adolescents with patterns of aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors.

How it works

The program works by using virtual reality, which will guide the youth through a series of "gamified" tasks involving recognizing facial expressions, identifying emotional triggers and developing strategies to tackle challenging social situations.

"We’re retraining how the brain responds to emotion and social cues,” Thomson said. “By directly targeting the systems that drive empathy and emotional learning, we can shift conduct patterns in ways traditional therapy has struggled to achieve."

The program places adolescents in interactive stories that simulate real-world social situations.  

"We wanted an intervention that felt real to young people,” Thomson said.

He continued to explain the thought process behind creating the program.

"By letting them shape the stories and dialogue, we turned therapy into something they could see themselves in, and that’s when it starts to work.

Thomson developed Impact VR with his company, Arche XR, to address the treatment gap for those without access to intensive therapy.

"The program is designed to address the underlying factors driving these behaviors, such as difficulty understanding emotional cues, interpreting social situations and building empathy," said a VCU spokesperson.

After conducting a study on participants aged 10 to 17, results showed that caregivers of youth who completed the Impact VR program saw immediate reductions in their child’s conduct problems, callous-unemotional traits and reactive aggression, per the release.

"With virtual reality, we can meet youth where they are and make emotional learning engaging and effective, and sustainable,” Thomson said.

“Many of the youth with conduct disorder in our study also had autism, ADHD, or social anxiety—conditions that often make traditional therapy difficult to sustain. By combining creativity with science, we’re opening new doors for mental health support that feels relevant, accessible, and built for real-world challenges."