Virtual reality therapy applied to phobias: what is it and how does it work?

This is how virtual reality therapy is used to treat people with phobias.

In Psychology, there are many techniques to treat phobias, using a varied methodology to achieve this goal.

But with the advent of new technologies, newer techniques are emerging that incorporate the most cutting-edge technical advances. This is the case of virtual reality therapy applied to phobias, which we are going to discover in this article..

What is virtual reality therapy in the treatment of phobias?

Phobias are one of the most frequent psychological pathologies, as it is estimated that they may be affecting 8% of the adult population. Therefore, it is not strange that it is one of the problems where more techniques have emerged with the aim of controlling and eliminating its symptoms. The most recent of these is virtual reality therapy applied to phobias.

This therapy is based on the use of a virtual reality equipment, with special glasses that incorporate a screen where an image of the phobia is projected. a screen where an image that adapts to the movement of the person's head is projected.This provides an immersive experience with the stimulus and the environment that is being visualized at that moment. In this way, what is achieved is an exposure to the aversive stimulus in a virtual way.

In contrast to other techniques, virtual reality therapy applied to phobias does not actually use the element that triggers the fears (whether it is a needle, a dog, a plane flight or a podium where to speak in public), but rather an illusion is generated to represent this stimulus, but of such realism that at a psychological level the subject experiences the same reactions as if it were real. as if it were real.

Therefore, by performing such treatment through virtual images, we manage to simulate in a totally credible way the situation that generates the phobia, just as if the real stimulus were present before the person, so the results obtained are equally valid and extrapolated to when faced in person to such stimuli.

Advantages of virtual reality

Traditionally, live exposure has been used as the usual technique for treating irrational fears. In contrast, virtual reality therapy as applied to phobias offers a series of advantages that we do not find when we talk about traditional exposure.. Let's take a look at each of them.

1. Control

The first point in favor of virtual reality that we found is the control over the stimulus that the therapist has, which is unthinkable in many cases of live exposure.. For example, by simply manipulating a few buttons, the therapist can make the simulated dog become more fierce or more tame, can vary the weather conditions and turbulence experienced during an airplane flight, or can make the spiders come closer and closer to the patient.

Live exposure allows this control only in some types of stimuli. For example, we can bring an object or an animal closer or closer to the subject being treated, but in no case can we vary the weather or the attitude of an animal in order to be able to graduate the intensity of the exposure according to our objectives and the professional opinion of the psychologist, since some elements would be subject only to the randomness of the situation.

Moreover, the professional not only controls what the patient sees, but also the way in which he/she perceives it.The main advantage is that you can add interoceptive elements, such as tunnel vision or blurred vision, if you want to intensify the experience and focus it on a specific physiological sensation, which is what the subject is afraid of. So the image is totally modulable, at all levels, achieving exactly the type of stimulus we are looking for each time.

Therefore, if we want to have absolute control over the aversive stimulus for an exposure as progressive as we need, it is best to opt for virtual reality therapy applied to phobias to treat this type of disorders, because traditional methods are not so moldable in that sense, as we have seen.

2. Low cost

Another great advantage that gives us the use of virtual reality is the low cost of this technique, because with the same equipment we can prepare a simulated exposure to an infinite number of different stimuli.. We only have to prepare the projection that the patient will see through the VR glasses, adapted to the aversive stimulus that has brought him/her to the consultation.

Therefore, it does not matter if the person wants to be treated for insect phobia, driving phobia, storm phobia or Blood phobia. Any imaginable option is susceptible to be treated in the psychologist's office thanks to virtual reality therapy applied to phobias. Therefore, the costs of preparation of the treatment as well as their possibilities of realization are much more affordable than with exposure to real stimuli.

Think, for example, of the fear of flying. It would be complicated and tremendously expensive to try to carry out each treatment session on board a real airplane, taking off and landing from an airport. Instead, by simply putting on the virtual reality goggles, the patient can look around and see himself aboard that vehicle he dreads so much, for the time being, until his anxious reactions begin to disappear.

3. Results

The third advantage that virtual reality therapy applied to phobias brings us, which we anticipated before, is that the results achieved can be extrapolated to real stimuli.. That is to say, a person who has managed to overcome his fear of dogs, for example, by using a virtual reality system, should be able to face the stimulus (real dogs) in person without experiencing anxious symptoms.

Therefore, not only do we have control over the virtual stimulus, which is also very low cost, but we achieve results that are just as robust as those obtained with the virtual stimulus. we achieve results as robust as those obtained with live exposure using real stimuli.using real stimuli. Putting both techniques on a scale, there is no doubt that virtual therapy wins the game in most cases, unless the phobia is related to a very abundant element, easy to obtain and manipulate.

The importance of the therapist

Although we have already seen that virtual reality therapy applied to phobias is affordable, effective and controllable, we cannot ignore the central element of the therapist, we cannot ignore the central element of this therapy, which is none other than the psychologist who performs it.. And the fact is that, no matter how powerful the elements used are, they are of little use if they are not handled with the skill of an experienced professional.

It is the psychologist who, thanks to his or her insight, knows how to modulate the virtual how to modulate the virtual exposure, observing the physiological responses of the individual.This would cause a very negative rebound effect on the treatment.

For this reason, however reliable and effective the virtual reality therapy applied to phobias may be, it is essential that it be guided by a professional psychologist, since only someone with the proper training can conduct these sessions ensuring a proper development of the same and therefore a satisfactory result for the patient, getting rid once and for all of their deepest fears, without running any risk.

A practical example

In order to better understand the functioning of virtual reality therapy applied to phobias, let's delve into a practical example, through the study published by Baños and collaborators in 2001, in the journal Clínica y Salud. In this paper, the authors give the details of a virtual reality treatment for the phobia of flying in airplanes. For this purpose, they had prepared three different scenarios (all virtual) to progressively increase the intensity of the treatment..

In the first scenario, one could see a room in which the subject is preparing the suitcases for the trip, so that he begins to anticipate his fears and therefore his anxiety symptomatology, even before leaving home, a situation that occurs in reality, of course. Moving on to the second scenario, the patient would see himself in an airport, before boarding, observing the usual activity of these facilities.

Finally, in the third scenario we would move to the interior of the airplane, being able to modify the conditions at the therapist's discretion to simulate takeoff, landing, turbulence conditions and other meteorological events that may increase the patient's anxiety.

After eight sessions, two of which were evaluation sessions and six treatment sessions with VR goggles, the therapy was found to be successful, with a high reduction in the anxiety levels of the patient. a high reduction in the levels of anxiety, avoidance and catastrophic beliefs about flying in an airplane. in the event of flying in an airplane. This is a small sample of the tremendous usefulness of this system that, undoubtedly, all psychologists specialized in phobias should take into account.

Bibliographical references:

• Baños, R.M., Botella, C., Perpiñá, C., Quero, S. (2001). Virtual reality treatment for flying phobia: a case study. Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid. Clínica y Salud.
• Botella, C., García-Palacios, A., Baños, R.M. (2007). Virtual reality and psychological treatments. Notebooks of psychosomatic medicine and liaison psychiatry.
• Capafons, J.I. (2001). Effective psychological treatments for specific phobias. Psicothema.
• García-García, E.S., Rosa-Alcázar, A.I., Olivares-Olivares, P.J. (2011). Exposure therapy using virtual reality and the internet in social anxiety/phobia disorder: A qualitative review. Terapia Psicológica.