Virtual Reality Exposure in Clinical Psychology
Virtual Reality Exposure in Clinical Psycholog y
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Virtual Reality Exposure in Clinical Psychology by Patrick Noonan (English 1102)
Idisorders, but also in finding the most effective methods to treat them in order to help patients
n clinical psychology, a strong focus is put towards not only diagnosing and detecting mental
take back control of their lives. In their complex analysis within the unconscious of the human
mind, the virtual reality therapy technique has offered a new way to bring a person‘s innermost
thoughts into social awareness. In the years since its introduction to the psychology field in 1990,
virtual reality (VR) has aided in the treatment towards a number of debilitating disorders such as
phobias, anorexia, post traumatic stress, and even substance abuse. Its success rates found in the
countless experiments from which it‘s been applied makes it apparent that this technology should be
a permanent tool within the psychology profession.
The main purpose of the VR technique is to evoke the same emotions that would be
experienced in the real world without leaving the safety net provided to them by the therapy or
rehabilitation center. What distinguishes VR from typical exposure methods is that ―users are not
passive, external observers of images on a computer screen, but are active participants within a
computer generated, 3-D virtual world‖ (Riva 71). The effect that it creates for the patient eliminates
a common obstacle of control faced by psychologists with participants in their experimentations.
When put in a situation of vulnerability, a common reflex for those being assessed is to close off any
emotions due to an unwillingness to admit that they have a mental illness. In an entry from the
journal of ―Cyberpsychology, Behavior, And Social Networking‖, Maldonado-Gutiérrez et. al. state
that ―[VR] presents good internal validity, as it allows strict control over the variables [therefore] it
overcomes the main drawback of laboratory studies, that is, their artificiality‖ (522). The interactive
nature of VR helps participants to slowly let down their guard with the intense emotions the
environment creates thus helping psychologists get to the root of the mental disorder.
The visual accuracy of the interactive 3-D environments that the patient is immersed in
makes VR a vital tool in the treatment of phobic disorders. The flexibility of the computer software
operating in partnership with VR breaks down any barriers that may exist within the patient and their
disease. In their article, ―A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial of In Virtuo and In Vivo Exposure
for Spider Phobia,‖ Psychologist David Michaliszyn and colleagues from the University of Quebec
provide a descriptive overview of the positive effects in virtuo (VR) can bring to phobia treatment:
In virtuo exposure has a number of advantages over conventional therapy, such as: (a) greater
control over phobogenic stimuli and thus greater accuracy in inducing anxiety, and the ability for the
therapist to repeat exposure at will; (b) limited unexpected events during exposure; (c) exposure to
fears that can be difficult to reproduce in vivo (e.g., fear of flying, fear of storms) and reduction of
costs (e.g., taking the plane); (d) remaining in the clinician‘s office during exposure facilitates
confidentiality; and (e) decreased maintenance associated costs required for animals (hygiene, food,
etc.) used for exposure. (689-690).
These listed advantages have enabled experimenters to create an endless amount of risk
induced situations ranging from the nausea experienced standing on top of the empire state building,
to the anxiety of flying present in acrophobia (fear of heights). These scenarios help to expose
patients to the harsh reality that they would face in the outside world, but in actuality, providing them
with a sense of security by facing these fears in a safe environment. Even phobias existing on a
relatively smaller scale of severity such as arachnophobia (fear of spiders) can also be reduced
through VR. A major program of research reviewed by Michaliszyn et. al. at the University of
Québec exposed a recruitment of participants with a long term case of arachnophobia to a series of
tasks incorporating the VR method. Utilizing computer software designed in the style of
―computergame environments based on the Max Payne video game‖, the commonly featured head mounted
displays, as well as ―a handheld wireless Gyration mouse [used] to control their forward and
backward movements‖ (Michaliszyn et. al. 690), participants were exposed to three virtual
environments of increasing intensity that were engulfed with various species of spiders. Results
showed that ―several patients in the in virtuo group indicated that they were curious to know how
they would react to a spider in their natural environment‖ (694). These studies indicate that VR not
only provid (...truncated)