The Testing Psychologist Podcast 538. How VR and AI Are Redefining Psychological Practice w/ Dr. Skip Rizzo
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In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Albert “Skip” Rizzo, one of the world’s leading innovators in using virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance psychological assessment, rehabilitation, and clinical training. We trace the history of VR in mental health from a 1990s Game Boy inspiration to today’s immersive, data-rich tools, and explore how conversational AI and virtual humans are changing the way clinicians evaluate, treat, and connect with clients. Skip shares insights from decades of groundbreaking work with veterans, autistic adolescents, and clinical trainees, while addressing ethical guardrails, practical adoption strategies, and why he remains a cautious optimist about AI’s role in our field.
Main Topics Covered
- Why Skip chose VR: the excitement of endless innovation
- Early history of VR in mental health: from Game Boy/SimCity to immersive rehab
- Early mental-health use cases: exposure therapy, spatial reasoning, and neurorehab
- The 1998 Virtual Classroom—first immersive CPT for attention assessment
- The new frontier: merging VR with conversational AI
- VA “Battle Buddy”: AI-driven mobile support for veterans (design, naming, de-stigmatization)
- AI safety and empathy research—why people sometimes prefer virtual agents
- Paul Meehl’s quote and VR as the “ultimate Skinner box” for systematic experiences
- What’s commercially viable today (exposure, pain, mindfulness, cognitive rehab) + the “Amazon of Clinical VR” idea
- Affordable standalone headsets (e.g., Meta Quest 3) as a tipping point for clinical practice
Cool Things Mentioned
- The Testing Psychologist mastermind groups and business consulting: www.thetestingpsychologist.com
- Reverb: the premier AI-powered report-writing platform for testing psychologists: www.reverbreports.com
- Meta Quest 3 headset: www.meta.com/quest
- Virtually Better (exposure-therapy applications): www.virtuallybetter.com
- CogniClear cognitive assessment system: www.cogniclear.com
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Immersive Healthcare Initiative: www.va.gov/innovationecosystem
- RAND Corporation study on AI safety and suicide prevention: www.rand.org
- JAMA article – VR-based Motivational Interview Training (Rizzo et al., VA Puget Sound): www.jamanetwork.com
- Dan Marino Foundation Job-Interview VR Trainer: www.danmarinofoundation.org.
Featured Resources
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About Dr. Skip Rizzo
Skip Rizzo is a Clinical Psychologist, and directs of the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) Medical VR Lab. He is a research professor in both the USC Dept. of Psychiatry and the School of Gerontology. Over the last 30 years, he has conducted research on the design, development and evaluation of VR systems across the domains of psychological, cognitive and motor functioning in healthy and clinical populations. This work has focused on PTSD, TBI, Autism, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, psychedelic therapy, and Suicide Prevention, and other clinical conditions.
Get in Touch & Resources:
- Email: rizzo@ict.usc.edu
- Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/AlbertSkipRizzo/videos
About Dr. Jeremy Sharp
I’m a licensed psychologist and Clinical Director at the Colorado Center for Assessment & Counseling, a private practice that I founded in 2009 and have grown to over 20 clinicians. I earned my undergraduate degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina before getting my Master’s and PhD in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University. These days, I specialize in psychological and neuropsychological evaluation with kids and adolescents.
As the host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast, I provide private practice consulting for psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to start or grow psychological testing services in their practices. I live in Fort Collins, Colorado with my wife (also a therapist) and two young kids.
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