VR & AI for Mental Health: Rewiring Trauma & Finding Flow with Nanea Reeves (TRIPP)

🎙️ EPISODE 11 - VR & AI FOR MENTAL HEALTH: REWIRING TRAUMA & FINDING FLOW WITH NANEA REEVES (TRIPP)

What happens when a pioneer from the video game industry realizes that the same technology used to generate fear could be used to generate peace?

In this essential episode, host Rudi Adigbli speaks with *Nanea Reeves*, CEO of the immersive mental wellness company *TRIPP*. Nanea shares her powerful journey, tracing her path from being an early investor in Oculus to founding a company that fuses gaming, neuroscience, and AI to give users *agency over how they feel*. We discuss the technical design choices that accelerate therapeutic engagement and the personal resilience required to lead a company focused on healing.

In this episode, you will learn:

AI Voice Avatar: How TRIPP uses AI to clone your voice (or a loved one's) for positive affirmations, activating the self-referential part of the brain (MPFC) for deeper emotional connection and healing.
VR Origin: From Fear to Agency: The light bulb moment when Nanea realized that if VR could generate visceral fear, it could be redesigned to give users a sense of calm and control.
Why Geometry Beats Nature: The surprising finding that otherworldly, abstract VR environments are often more calming than virtual beaches because they remove sensory expectations the brain cannot reconcile.
The Gaming Connection: How the core principles of great video game design—novelty, real-time feedback, and the *Flow Channel*—are foundational to creating therapeutic engagement.
The Rehumanization Crisis: The systemic failure within the military to rebuild a soldier's sense of self and individuality after combat, and why this process is crucial for preventing severe mental health issues.
Metacognition & Manipulation: Why developing self-awareness is the necessary antidote to navigating today's manipulative, rage-baiting digital environment.
The Power of Reframing: Nanea’s powerful personal story of turning childhood trauma and profound loss into resilience by consciously shifting the narrative from the "victim band" to one of strength and purpose.

00:00 - Intro: Nanea Reeves & TRIPP
02:24 - AI Voice Avatar: Self-Referential Healing
06:20 - VR Origin: From Fear to Agency
16:54 - Video Games as Respite (Teen Trauma)
28:07 - Military Crisis: The Need for Rehumanization
36:51 - Metacognition & The Antidote to Manipulation
41:17 - Personal Story: Trauma, Addiction, and Resilience
01:04:01 - Keanu Reeves & The Game of Business

🎧 Listen on:
Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/46x8...

👉 Read the full episode summary on my Substack: [https://reethink.substack.com/?r=5rf5...]

👉 Join The ReeShaper Circle to connect with others shaping the neurotech industry: [https://www.skool.com/fundrazr-3557/a...]

#VRforMentalHealth #AIVoice #Neurotech #TraumaHealing #FlowState #TRIPP #NaneaReeves