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OVERCOME ACROPHOBIA. Have dizzy? You are not alone. In fact, acrophobia is one of the most common fears in the world. Now, a team of European researchers has found a new way to help people overcome their fear, no need to climb on the ledges or even talk to a therapist.
The researchers enrolled 100 volunteers for their study, all of whom had the disease diagnosed clinically but did not receive treatment for their phobia. The researchers then divided the volunteers into two groups. Fifty-one volunteers served as witnesses, receiving no treatment, while the remaining 49 had the opportunity to follow a two-week virtual reality treatment (47 accepted the program and 44 completed it). ). The researchers published the results of their essay in the newspaper The Lancet Psychiatry on Wednesday.
A VIRTUAL COACH. During the VR treatment program, volunteers used a virtual reality headset to meet a "virtual coach" for six sessions of about 30 minutes each. This automated coach began by asking them questions about their fear of heights and telling them facts about their phobia. Then the coach guided the volunteers through a series of virtual scenarios to help them respond to their fear. These were going to throw balls on a ledge to save a cat from a tree. At the end of each session, the virtual coach asked each volunteer what he was feeling. The coach also encouraged the volunteer to meet "real world" heights between sessions.
All participants in the study completed questionnaires on the severity of their fear of heights at the beginning of the trial two weeks later. the end of the VR treatment program), and another two weeks after that. At the end of the trial, 34 of the 49 treatment group volunteers expressed a fear of reaching heights lighter than those needed by the researchers to participate in the study. The control group members all assessed their fear at about the same level as at the beginning of the study.
THE FUTURE OF MENTAL HEALTH. Other examples show that VR can help people with mental disorders. However, this is the first test to show that an RV treatment can produce the desired results without the help of a trained (and potentially costly) human therapist. As noted by senior author of the study, Daniel Freeman, in a press release, this could increase the number of people who receive the psychological treatment they need, not just the fear of heights – the researchers predict from the powerful approach of treatment can also work for other mental disorders
READ MORE: Automated psychological therapy using immersive virtual reality for the treatment of fear of heights The Lancet Psychiatry ]
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