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Dick Tracey did not have to visit a large building to overcome his fear of heights. He put on a virtual reality helmet.
Through VR, he climbed into a tall atrium that seemed so real that he fell to his knees.
"I needed to look with my hand for something solid around me," he said.
He said, "I must look stupid. Let's just stand up. Nothing will happen.
Virtual reality therapy can help people like Tracey by gradually exposing them to their greatest terrors. Technology is just reaching the general public after 20 years of research. The equipment is lighter and more affordable, and the video game industry allows users to face disabling flying fears, heights, spiders or dogs.
And the ramping up of products is bringing VR to more offices of therapists. Experts predict that people with mild phobias will treat each other successfully at home.
Research shows that VR therapy can bring tangible benefits to people with phobias and works as well as traditional exposure therapy that slowly subjects patients to what causes them anxiety.
For the Denver librarian, Nick Harrell, VR was a reminder after traditional therapy, for fear of flying. Panic chased him off a flight to Paris two years ago, obliging him to give up his vacation with his girlfriend.
"I do not like being locked in the metal tube," Harrell explained. "I could not breathe. My chest was beating.
With the help of a therapist, Harrell first confronted his fears through exposure therapy. Elevators, buses and trains are good practices for aircraft.
"In the space of a few months, I was flying again," Harrell said.
With VR recently added to his therapy, Harrell keeps fears in check. His health insurance covers the cost with a small copay.
But few people with phobias seek treatment. Too embarrassed to get help, many plan their lives avoiding their fears.
Tracey of Oxfordshire, England, avoided heights, scales with breathtaking panoramas. Escalators gave the retired 62-year-old heart palpitations. His wife walked between him and the steep hills.
Tracey's VR therapy was part of a study. He was one of the first to try a VR world with a lively virtual coach. Daniel Freeman, professor of psychology at Oxford University, developed the program for an Oxford spin-off with the support of the National Health Service.
Freeman's team is now working on a world of virtual reality where people with schizophrenia can practice in a café, elevator or shop.
"Many of our patients are removed from the world," Freeman said. The VR program of fear of heights shows that you can automate treatment.
How it works
What is VR? Put on a headset and look around. You will see a simulation of an interactive environment in three dimensions. Look up and you will see the sky; look down and your own hands and feet may appear.
With exposure therapy, a therapist can accompany a person who is afraid of heights in a large building. With VR, a patient learns to feel safe on a virtual high-rise balcony, without leaving the therapist's office.
The exposure works by gradually eliminating panic. Sweaty hands and beating heart relieve themselves. Fears are reduced to manageable levels. By mastering it, a person learns that their feelings can survive.
The best studies on exposure therapy to RV have been few, with fewer than 100 patients. Katharina Meyerbroker, researcher at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, has published research reports in this area.
Harrell's therapist is helping to test VR content on the ground for a company called Limbix, an arrangement between the company and the National Mental Health Innovation Center of the University of Colorado's School of Medicine.
These links are important for RV companies, which need scientific credibility to sell their products to therapists. Researchers also win.
"We all relied on this technology originally developed for video games," said Hunter Hoffman, a researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle, who developed early VR therapy called Spider World two decades ago. He did not allow his arachnophobia project like other researchers who partnered with companies to sell platforms and VR content.
Children may one day use VR to learn how to cope with anxiety, said Stephen Whiteside, director of the Mayo Clinic's Pediatric Anxiety Disorders Clinic, where a study targets anxious children.
In the case of virtual reality, a classroom teacher gives a bad school newspaper.
"You hear other children's voices laughing and saying you did not do well," Whiteside said. "The first time I looked at it, I had a visceral reaction. It made you nervous.
Mayo researchers say that children prefer the VR experience to traditional exposure therapy. Then they will test if it works too.
Whiteside said that RV researchers from around the world must demonstrate benefits that exceed treatment costs, which can reach $ 200 per session in some specialty clinics.
"The cheapest and most affordable becomes," said Whiteside, "the easiest that will be."
VR therapy has made life easier for Tracey. After seven RV sessions, he now easily parks his car on a multi-storey garage. He was standing on the flat roof of his house to clean his carport.
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