Meth-Apartment

The ETC "Meth-Apartment" is a highly adaptable 3-D environment that has been built within the online virtual world of Second Life.  The model is being applied to behavioral pharmacology research concerning treatment methods for stimulant dependence. The environment is a photo-realistic, interactive virtual space intended to recreate the every day life experiences faced by stimulant addicts. Specifically the "Meth-Apartment" serves to elicit cue-induced cravings for methamphetamine, which then may be manipulated using novel pharmacotherapies in an attempt to elucidate the underlying neurological mechanism involved in drug craving and relapse. The model was developed using self-reports provided by methamphetamine users and the creativity of Itay Zaharovits, an ETC researcher with a background in real Architecture and virtual environment designs, and Christopher Culbertson, an Interdepartmental Program Neuroscience Ph.D. student specializing in addiction medicine. Future research will employ the "Meth-Apartment" paradigm to improve cognitive behavioral treatments and exam drug taking behavior in a naturalistic environment. Preliminary results from research utilizing the "Meth-Apartment" indicate a significant improvement over traditional cue exposure methods such as exposure to cue videos and drug paraphernalia.



The team created two physically distinct virtual environments; a neutral - or "Clean-Apartment" that acts as the control environment with everything from natural sunlight to classical music, and the other, a "Meth-Apartment", with graffiti, interactive drug paraphernalia, and virtual avatars performing looped behaviors. A mobile, physical station with a 32-inch monitor, video game controller, and surround sound audio system was constructed to house the system and immerse participants in the virtual environment while remaining in the safety of a clinical setting. Each participant experiences the scene from a first-person point of view and controls his/her avatar with a hand-held video game remote. While in the environment participants may explore a plethora of inanimate cues (e.g. pipes, lighters, bags of meth, syringes, lines of meth) and encounter animated cues (e.g. avatars smoking, snorting and injecting meth) within a native context.   Participants are also prompted by audio clips to interact with the inanimate cues (e.g. "Click on the pipe if you want a hit."), which allows the participant to engage in drug taking behavior. Changes in participants self-report subjective responses (e.g. "How much do you crave meth right now?") and physiological state (e.g. heart rate and blood pressure) are closely monitored at regular intervals during each exposure to determine the effects of this novel method of cue exposure compared to traditional methods.  Future studies will further record and analyze participants' behavior and movement within the virtual environments to assess the efficacy of treatment. 



Funding

NIDA (DA14593), (DA024548), (DA023588)


Scientific Committee

The “Meth House” was created in collaboration with Thomas F. Newton, M.D., and Christopher Culbertson at the Integrated Substance Abuse Program through the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA.


Modelers

Itay Zaharovits


Related Links

http://www.uclaisap.org/

http://www.uclaisap.org/addclinic/index.html