=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2265/paper7
|storemode=property
|title=Virtual Reality as a Therapeutic Tool in Case of Psychological Disorders
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2265/paper7.pdf
|volume=Vol-2265
|authors=Karolina Zmarzły
}}
==Virtual Reality as a Therapeutic Tool in Case of Psychological Disorders==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2265/paper7.pdf
Virtual Reality as A Therapeutic Tool in Case of
Psychological Disorders
Karolina Zmarzy*
Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
zmarzly.karolina@gmail.com
Abstract. The main goal of this paper is to present possible ways of ap-
plying virtual reality into a therapy of psychological disorders. Examples
of procedures used in the case of social phobias, autism, eating disorders
and delusional believes occurring in schizophrenia will be presented. At
the end, important points, that should be noted in future research will
be highlighted.
Keywords: virtual reality, therapy, psychological disorders, social pho-
bia, autism, eating disorders, delusional believes
1 Introduction
The virtual reality is a graphically created world that provides sensations like
seeing, hearing and feeling comparable to those experienced in a physical world.
Most importantly, in the virtual environment people can interact with it. In con-
trast to the physical world, the incontrovertible advantage of the virtual world is
the assurance of security and anonymity for patients as well as the opportunity
to create and control given situations by therapists and researchers. Moreover,
it can be more financially profitable, as it can generate lower costs within some
cases. These features predispose virtual reality as a potentially appropriable
therapeutic tool, that can be used in cases of various psychological disorders [1],
[2].
The major goal of this work is concerned with a presentation of how virtual real-
ity can be used for treatment of various psychological disorders. As an example,
cases of social phobia [3], autism [4], eating disorders [5] and delusional believes
that occur in case of schizophrenia [6] will be elaborated in order to discuss how
the virtual reality can contribute to the improvement of currently used therapies
and to indicate future directions of development.
2 Virtual reality as a therapeutic tool
2.1 Social phobia
Virtually created environments can be applied to overcome the fear of public
appearances, which is the main characteristic for social phobia [3]. The aim is
to confront subjects with their fear and make them cope with their anxiety by
the process of habituation. In this purpose different social conditions can be
created where a short previously prepared speech at preordained topic can be
delivered. The person undergoing treatment can be exposed to various stages
of difficulty that differs within the numbers of avatars as well as within privacy
and sensitivity of discussed topics. Thanks to several types of social situations,
it is possible to freely choose circumstances which are the most appropriate for
the given case. Consequently, people can learn how to gradually struggle with
their fears and ultimately overcome them without doubts concerning the real
exposure to members of the society.
2.2 Autism
With regard to autism, one of the biggest challenge is related to the process
of establishing contacts with others. Thanks to the use of virtual reality, it is
possible to produce appropriate situations that can teach how to pay attention
to specific features, which play a prominent role during social interactions [4].
For example, different social task can be developed where avatar can tell a short
story about his personal life. In such case, the person’s assignment is to ask few
questions in order to receive an additional information, which may be more or
less private and subtle in its nature. As a result, people with autism can learn
how important it is to maintain eye contact with the interlocutor, or how to
keep appropriate selection and order of questions, depending on the sensitivity
of a certain subject matter.
2.3 Eating disorders
People suffering from eating disorders struggle, among other things, with an
inadequate representation of their own body. Therefore, the goal of virtual reality
is to present the actual body appearance of ones person and to reverse certain
beliefs about eating in general [5]. Due to the creation of various tasks, it is
possible not only to make such patients more aware of their actual body image,
but also to help with reversing some maniacal habits. It can also be shown
that a body appearance does not only depend on the weight, but also on many
other factors such as height and sex. During virtual therapeutic family members
and friends can also play more prominent role. Through active participation in
tasks performance, they can show their own perspective by creating a figure
representing the person concerned.
2.4 Delusional beliefs
Schizophrenia is a serious disorder that is a heavy burden to carry on. Further-
more, it can be met with misunderstanding and rejection on the part of the
society. In order to avert additional pressure, people with schizophrenia often
use different defensive techniques, that are meant to insure before experiencing
possible suffering, for instance against rejection from the society. Consequently,
avoidance is one of the most commonly used strategy, which might create a vi-
cious circle. Avoiding elicits a false belief of safety, which confirms that society
is in fact negatively attituded towards this person, which strengthens the orig-
inally created illusory belief. With the help of virtually created situations, it is
possible to reverse this process and to help to regain a sense of security in social
circumstances such as being in a crowded elevator or in an underground railway
station [6].
3 Future directions
When it comes to usage of virtual therapy as a therapeutic tool, the biggest
problem is a small amount of reliable data on the effectiveness of a given ther-
apy. In the future, attention should be paid especially to the appropriate sample
size, to the use of control groups and to establishing an adequate methodology.
Afterwards, time can be spent on improving existing scenarios, creating new
ones and addressing the case of other disorders. In addition, problems that each
of us might face can be raised by implementing the use of virtual reality during
other therapeutic sessions. It can contribute to increase interest in seeking psy-
chological advice but also to change of peoples attitude toward this profession
in general.
4 Summary
The examples discussed in this work show the wide range of virtual reality ap-
plications, which gives additional opportunities to improve various therapies.
However, the priority for the future research is to follow the methodological
rigor. After that, the use of virtual reality might be broadly expanded, because
the biggest advantage of virtual reality lies in its applicability, that is mostly
limited to our creative skills.
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