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Practice dating spiders without actually dating spiders with the Phobys app.
University of Basel, MCN
As a child and young adult, I was afraid of spiders. Jump out of my skin, run into the other room, scared. I fought the fear. I did some research on spiders. I ended up understanding them. I even came to love them. For people who still struggle with some degree of arachnophobia, a new app may offer help, however.
Researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland have developed Phobys, an augmented reality application that aims to provide “exposure therapy” so that phobic spiders can cope with their fear in a safe and controlled manner.
“It’s easier for people afraid of spiders to cope with a virtual spider than a real one,” Anja Zimmer, lead author of a study on the app published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, said Monday. August.
The research team conducted a two-week clinical trial with 66 participants who feared spiders. Some of the participants used the app to perform a series of AR spider encounters, while others acted as a control group with no interaction with the app. Participants were then invited to approach a real spider in a transparent box as close as they could.
It’s a pretty realistic spider in the Phobys AR app.
Screenshot of the Phobys app by Amanda Kooser / CNET
“The group that had trained using Phobys showed much less fear and disgust in the actual spider situation and were able to get closer to the spider than the control group,” said the University of Basel.
The app, which costs $ 5 to unlock, has 10 levels that users can go through with ratings at the end of each level. It starts with a quick experience of “testing your fear” to give you a fear / loathing baseline from which to operate.
The application is suitable “for those who suffer from mild and clinically insignificant fear of spiders at least 16 years old”. Researchers say anyone with intense fear – which can manifest as symptoms such as sweating or heart palpitations – should consult a specialist before using the app.
Others have pitched similar ideas, such as Anna Chakravorty, a fine arts student at the University of Alberta, who presented design concepts for an augmented reality spider game project. Another approach can be seen with the Arachnophobia app, which uses cartoon spiders. The realistic spider Phobys AR increases the experience.
I’m not going to spoil the way the app works, but when it says to hold your phone firmly, be sure to follow the instructions.
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