Oxford has successfully tested the technology of psychotherapy for fear of heights using virtual reality games. The technique does not require the presence of a psychotherapist.
Psychiatrists from the University of Oxford have tested a technique that allows you to fight acrophobia (obsessive fear of heights) using virtual reality (VR) technology. The job description was published in The Lancet Psychiatry.
Acrophobia belongs to the category of specific (isolated) phobias - such disorders are associated with strictly defined objects or situations. With acrophobia, a person may experience panic attacks while at a height; sometimes people with this phobia cannot go down from a high point on their own due to irrational fear. As with other specific phobias, a person often tends to avoid frightening situations. Acrophobia affects two to five percent of the world's population; it is more common in women.
VR technologies already exist to combat the fear of heights, but they are being used as an addition to the standard course of psychotherapy. The authors of the new development say that their technique allows you to achieve noticeable results without the constant presence of a psychotherapist.
The tests involved one hundred British adults with an average of about thirty years suffering from acrophobia. 49 entered the experimental group, 51 - the control group. Representatives of the first group underwent VR-therapy for half an hour two to three times a week, the course lasted for two weeks. During the VR game, the volunteers performed various tasks (for example, it was necessary to remove the cat from the tree), gradually “climbing” the floors of the virtual building with an atrium. The design of the game includes many elements reminiscent of height: small figures of people on the lower floors and soaring balloons. In the intervals between tasks, the participants answered questions that were automatically “asked” by a virtual psychotherapist.
Shot from the game / Oxford VR.
At the end of the course, standard questionnaires showed that play significantly reduced the fear of heights in all participants in the experimental group. On average, their fear indicators decreased by 68%, and in people from the control group - by only 3.3%. In 34 volunteers from the experimental group, these indicators turned out to be below the limit, which allows us to speak of the presence of a phobia. Two weeks after the course, the noticeable effect of VR therapy was still preserved.
Further research will determine which aspects of virtual reality have been most beneficial and compare the effectiveness of the technique with standard psychotherapy.
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Natalia Pelezneva