VR Role-Play Therapy Helps People With Agoraphobia, Finds Study 18
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: It's a sunny day on a city street as a green bus pulls up by the kerb. Onboard, a handful of passengers sit stony-faced as you step up to present your pass. But you cannot see your body -- only a floating pair of blue hands. It might sound like a bizarre dream, but the scenario is part of a virtual reality (VR) system designed to help people with agoraphobia -- those for whom certain environments, situations and interactions can cause intense fear and distress. Scientists say the approach enables participants to build confidence and ease their fears, helping them to undertake tasks in real life that they had previously avoided. The study also found those with more severe psychological problems benefited the most. "It leads to a real step-change in people's lives," said Prof Daniel Freeman, the lead researcher in the work, from the psychiatry department at the University of Oxford.
The VR experience begins in a virtual therapist's office before moving to scenarios such as opening the front door or being in a doctor's surgery, each with varying levels of difficulty. Participants are asked to complete certain tasks, such as asking for a cup of coffee, and are encouraged to make eye contact or move closer to other characters. Freeman said while the scenarios feel real, the computer-generated scenes allow participants to feel able to try something new or approach the situation differently. "There's a little bit of the conscious bit [of the brain] going: 'OK, it's OK, I know it's not real and therefore I can persist, try something new and do something differently,'" he said. "That enables people to apply it in the real world. Basically, if you get over something in VR, you will get over in the real world."
Writing in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, Freeman and colleagues report how they randomly allocated 174 patients with difficulties going outside and psychosis to use the "gameChange" VR technology alongside their usual care. Another 172 patients were allocated to receive their usual care alone. [...] The results show that six weeks after the trial began, those allocated to the VR therapy had a small but significant reduction in avoiding real-life situations because of agoraphobia, as well as less distress, compared with those who had only received their usual care. However, by six months there was no difference between the two groups. But further analysis revealed that those who had severe agoraphobia benefited most, and for these people the effect was sustained at six months. Such patients were able to complete, on average, two more activities than before -- such as going shopping or getting on a bus.
The VR experience begins in a virtual therapist's office before moving to scenarios such as opening the front door or being in a doctor's surgery, each with varying levels of difficulty. Participants are asked to complete certain tasks, such as asking for a cup of coffee, and are encouraged to make eye contact or move closer to other characters. Freeman said while the scenarios feel real, the computer-generated scenes allow participants to feel able to try something new or approach the situation differently. "There's a little bit of the conscious bit [of the brain] going: 'OK, it's OK, I know it's not real and therefore I can persist, try something new and do something differently,'" he said. "That enables people to apply it in the real world. Basically, if you get over something in VR, you will get over in the real world."
Writing in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, Freeman and colleagues report how they randomly allocated 174 patients with difficulties going outside and psychosis to use the "gameChange" VR technology alongside their usual care. Another 172 patients were allocated to receive their usual care alone. [...] The results show that six weeks after the trial began, those allocated to the VR therapy had a small but significant reduction in avoiding real-life situations because of agoraphobia, as well as less distress, compared with those who had only received their usual care. However, by six months there was no difference between the two groups. But further analysis revealed that those who had severe agoraphobia benefited most, and for these people the effect was sustained at six months. Such patients were able to complete, on average, two more activities than before -- such as going shopping or getting on a bus.
Larry Hodges was studying using VR for acrophobia (Score:1)
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Paranoia (Score:3)
Big destroya.
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The biggest hurdle with agoraphobia is discovering that you have it, and then what triggers it. Treating it is easy. Recognizing what causes it is hard.
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I recall a few years back trials using VR to treat PTSD in soldiers too.
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Some of my former students worked on a VR tool that is used by the Canadian Army to help soldiers with PTSD. It features a very easy-to-use military sandbox setup that allows the traumatized soldier to recreate a battle scene. I was told that it was found to be a highly effective form of treatment. The whole thing is surprisingly slick, built in Unreal. They've been using this for quite a few years now, and it was very inexpensive for them to develop.
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What about angoraphobia? The fear of fluffy bunnies.
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I believe it, I get a little nervous looking down just playing Tomb Raider.
Video games don't cause violence (Score:1)
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If you ask me, political disagreements cause violence. You don't see people rioting in the streets because they think Halo is better than Call of Duty.
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We just aren't there yet. People riot in the streets over their football team winning or losing. No one has been trampled at a video game tournament, but I'm sure it's coming. Give it time.
Video games train the specific steps that you use (Score:2)
So does this only work when you want it to work then?
Following your reasons, incels wouldn't be a thing: otakus and nerdy geeks would be experts at pick-ing up mate given the amount of japanese dating-sim they constantly play.
Video game can help repeat and train the steps that are involved in playing them.
That means that by crafting specific game environment you could train a specific set of steps.
Playing a top view arcade shoot'em'up or manic bullet hell cannot make you into a good pilot because nervously mashing buttons on an arcade cabinet has almost nothi
Do you know de way? (Score:2)
Also good for Ugandan echidnas.
Surprised? and? pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7694917/ (Score:2)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov]
1995.. Acrophobia (fear of heights) and VR
This technique has been around for a while.
and for agoraphobia, 2004
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]
Lt. Barclay? (Score:2)
I know I'm seriously geeking out here... but this reminds me a great deal of Reginald Barclay's use of the holodeck on Star Trek TNG; Reg frequently used the holodeck as a refuge away from reality -- except that in his case, they called it an unhealthy holo-addiction.
Which makes me wonder: How long will it be until this "therapeutic" use of VR transitions to a dependency?