DURING a ten-year stint in the United States working in clinical research at the National Centre for PTSD and Stanford University, Rita Hitching saw how virtual reality (VR) was being used to help treat veterans with depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
"The primary thing I noticed for all of the people I did assessments for was sleep," Ms Hitching said.
Many suffered insomnia, or disrupted sleep, which continued even after receiving treatment and it seemed to be a treatment across all of the conditions she was studying.
"Even for people who got better, sleep was still a problem," Ms Hitching said.
Returning to Australia during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be the perfect time to resume her tertiary education, which she left on hold when she met her now-husband and decided to start a family.
She embarked on a four-year, full-time journey, to complete a PhD she started 25 years earlier.
Looking at the nexus between poor sleep and well being became her focus. More specifically, how VR can make mindfulness an accessible treatment for the up to 50 per cent of adults worldwide who struggle to get a good night sleep.
That is the topic which this mother of three has explored with her PhD, Virtual Reality to Facilitate Sleep - A Novel Approach to Deliver CPT-I for Insomnia in Comorbid Mood and Anxiety, with which she will graduate at the University of Newcastle today (June 24).
"Mindfulness is hard to do for more than few minutes at a time," Ms Hitching said. "To get to ten to 15, which is seen as the really powerful sweet spot, can take a really long time."
VR creates an immersive environment which can keep a person in the present moment by engaging all of their senses.
"The benefit is, if they wake up during the night, because the VR therapy is conducted during the day, they can visualise what they were seeing during the VR session."
Ms Hitching said she had weathered health crises, long commutes and plenty of setbacks during her PhD journey and she was glad she continued.
"My children saw how the major research setbacks affected me," she remembered. "For them to go, mum, it's okay, and to see me come back and resubmit my paperwork. I am proudest that my kids were able to see me come back from what seems sometimes like the end of the road, and still get it done".
While two of her children are travelling, and her third is sitting exams, Ms Hitching said she was happy that her husband would be there with her to witness her graduate as an award-winning, innovative researcher and international ambassador for the University of Newcastle.
