Promising VR Research Makes Humans Face Their Phobias

The test subjects were allowed to pick VR videos with the amount of exposure that they were comfortable with. Overall, the novel VR-driven treatment is said to have reduced the phobia symptoms by a margin of around 75% after an exposure treatment lasting six weeks, which is quite remarkable. The study, which has been published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, concludes that the VR treatment proved to be “effective at reducing [the] severity of specific phobia symptoms.”

While the positive outcome is promising in itself, there are a few other benefits of the strategy, too. Compared to an in-person therapy session with a psychiatrist for exposure treatment, the dropout rate during the VR trials was significantly lower. Moreover, using an app-driven VR system with a self-guided approach ensures that users don’t have to fear exposing their phobias if they are feeling conscious about it. Another notable benefit is that the VR-fueled treatment is cost-effective, readily available via the app, and doesn’t come with any psycho-social hindrances.

In September last year, MindGuide revealed an app called Phobys that employs a similar exposure therapy approach to help users suffering from arachnophobia, which is clinically defined as a pathological or irrational fear of spiders. But instead of VR, the app in question doesn’t require a headset. Instead, it relies on an Augmented Reality overlay of a spider appearing on a phone’s screen with various levels of perceived proximity.