Multimedia Reviews: An Annual Conference to Advance the Use of Virtual Reality in the Treatment of Mental Disorders

Introduction by the column editor: Over the past decade rapid advances in virtual reality technology have found exciting and innovative clinical applications in medicine and surgery, highlighted at the annual conference "Medicine Meets Virtual Reality," which has been held for more than a decade each January in Newport Beach, California. These innovative virtual reality methods and technologies were also found to have significant clinical and research applications in the fields of psychiatry and psychology and for many years were included in a section of that larger medical meeting. A separate "CyberTherapy Conference," including a focus on these areas, was initiated in 2003. In this month's column, the founders of the conference report on rapidly developing and innovative applications of virtual reality and simulation.