![]() VR works because the digitally created sensory feedback from the artificial world replaces our everyday experiences. How Does It Work? A Look at the Psychology Behind It VR therapy has successfully treated anxiety, PTSD, phobias, and depression. And while the experience is immersive and believable for the user, functional MRI recordings can compare psychological reactions with brain activity if needed.Īnd it works. VR can transport the wearer into practically any contextually rich simulation while retaining control over the variables (Bohil et al., 2011). The potential for virtual reality to simulate situations and social interactions is limitless. As a result, VR offers a viable and valuable environment for safely recreating anxiety and other complex feelings (Martens et al., 2019). Traditional mental health interventions can be combined with cutting-edge technology to place clients in safe, controlled, and ecologically valid situations. The potential for the therapist is equally thrilling. Staff can monitor movement, heart rate, and other indicators in real time or offline for later, in-depth analysis. While it has obvious value for gamers, VR can also provide deeply immersive real-world training environments for people in hazardous professions – such as astronauts and rescue workers – or athletes trying to optimize performance. It can cause muscles to move and warm/cool as needed to make a scenario breathtakingly real. The Teslasuit looks like a wetsuit but is described as a “wearable computer on the surface of the skin” (Revell, 2018). Such a dynamic interaction allows the “user to engage with the VR environment in a more naturalistic and intuitive way” and gives the experience of being there (Maples-Keller et al., 2017).Ī suit has been created that takes sensory feedback to the next level. ![]() Haptic gloves provide feedback – both texture and resistance – that simulates physical interaction within the digital environment. Not only do experiences look and sound very real, but it is also possible to physically feel objects in the virtual world. They appear authentic because they achieve brain and behavioral responses from virtual stimulation that mirror those in the real world. Visually, the VR system components work together to “create sensory illusions that produce a more or less believable simulation of reality” (Bohil, Alicea, & Biocca, 2011). After all, VR systems can induce physiological and psychological responses that can be measured by changes to stress hormones and other biological states (Bassolino et al., 2018 Martens et al., 2019). In one ground-breaking study, researchers found that digital limbs (in VR) can feel indistinguishable from our own. Success can be judged on the digital experience’s ability to simulate the real-world environment that it attempts to recreate. Virtual reality aims to mirror “reality and create a world that is both immersive and interactive” (Maples-Keller, Bunnell, Kim, & Rothbaum, 2017). Treatment of Disorders: PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression.A Look at VR Exposure Therapy and Phobias.How Does It Work? A Look at the Psychology Behind It.These science-based exercises explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology, including strengths, values, and self-compassion, and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students, or employees. This article explores the science behind the therapy, the treatments, and some of the software available.īefore you continue, we thought you might like to download these three Positive Psychology Exercises for free. Virtual reality (VR) has proven to be a powerful tool to help people overcome PTSD and many other mental health issues including phobias, anxiety, and depression. Soldiers were immersed in digital simulations of combat the experience brought back to life through 3D images, sounds, vibrations, and even smells.īy working through their trauma in a simulation, soldiers previously unable to share were helped to talk about what had happened. ![]() Naval Medical Center in San Diego, California, did just that – albeit virtually (Aldhous, 2012). ![]() Imagine treating soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a combat situation rather than an office. ![]()
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