Technology Helping Police and Social Workers

Who says technology doesn’t have applications for civil service? Recent developments in technology are allowing law enforcement personnel and psychiatric and social workers to experience more empathy for the patients and convicts in their care.

The new device, called Virtual Hallucinations, was invented by psychiatrists for use by people who work with or have to administer justice to the insane. It is designed to allow the user to experience events through the eyes of a serious schizophrenic, with the goal of inspiring empathy in their dealings with the mentally damaged and challenged.

The way it works is to simulate the experience of a schizophrenic in two different everyday activities: riding a bus and going to the pharmacy for their medication. On the bus, it shows the other passengers going in and out of focus and view, distorting reality as birds of prey seem to claw at the windows and you hear ominous voices in your head. In the pharmacy, you are suffused with paranoia as the pills you need seem to become poison before your eyes and the other shoppers and pharmacist seem to have it in for you.

This product is being advocated for use by law enforcement personnel and others by those who work with and fight for the rights of the mentally ill. Because it allows the user to understand what it feels like for their mind to stop working as it should and for a total loss of control to occur, it makes them more empathetic during interactions with the mentally, possibly preventing and escalating situation.

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