How to Use VR for Social Anxiety Therapy
VR may be viewed as an interactive way for gaming and learning, and they would also treat social anxiety-an increasingly common condition that can be quite debilitative for the afflicted.
Sessions for virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) guide the remote control of an avatar through anxiety-inducing situations, supported by an experienced therapist present throughout for support and assistance.
VR Exposure Therapy or Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy is a virtual method found successful in ameliorating symptoms of social anxiety. With VRET, facing the patient's fears becomes a possibility, minus the risks with in vivo exposure.
With VRET, patients wear a headset with an image for each eye placed inside a computer-generated virtual environment that can be programmed to simulate different settings or situations. By using VR, the therapist will guide the patient through exposure sessions while monitoring and providing support in real time, thereby eliminating four limitations associated with imaginal exposure: not all patients imagine well; ability to form mental images diminishes with age; imagined content could be too horrifying; and the therapist cannot intervene to see or contro' what is going on in the patients' mind if the exposure is to be imagined.
Studies have shown that VRET has significant efficacy in alleviating social anxiety symptoms compared to waiting list controls. Furthermore, it is an ideal solution for people who are limited with regards to obtaining in-house therapy and who may be prevented by distance and travel costs or time and cost in procuring and storing HMDs.
Above study recorded high levels of participant satisfaction with VR treatment, which were maintained at follow-up 12 months later.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
CBT effectively treats anxiety, and its applications may be extended through VR technology. Examination of studies highlights how, through VR, people might confront their fears via graded exposure to a simulated environment, where they were safe; on the other hand, VR is capable of imparting skills or behaviors to deal more effectively with anxiety.
In one study, core VR techniques were used to treat a subject whose fear of flying was exacerbated by exposure to takeoff and landing sounds, vibrations, and realistic cloud images. Another study employed an interactive virtual reality classroom simulation to treat adolescents with social anxiety disorder, where avatars filled the roles of students and teacher-student interaction, and the system comes under the control of the therapist when real students interact with teachers.
This systematic search addresses the published works regarding VR applied into SAD treatment with special emphasis on direct patient use. Randomized controlled trials utilizing VR for exposure therapy in SAD were included; they retained data on intervention name; standard measures used as set forth and their outcomes; study design; subjects (non identifiable); attrition; intention-to-treat analysis; user experience evaluation such as safety, usability, and acceptability. Finally, effectiveness, patient-reported outcomes, as well as therapist welfare reports on client satisfaction, were used to evaluate each included study.
In Vivo Exposure Therapy
Virtual exposure to stimulus feared by patients is made possible by VR without compromises to safety. This ultimately makes VR comfortable for any type of exposure that seeks to deal with phobias such as acrophobia, claustrophobia, or agoraphobia in confronting and overcoming their fears without incurring long travels for treatment or paying for live treatment sessions running in involuntary exposure therapy where clients are asked to face their fears in real-life situations.
While studies of VR for treatment of social anxiety disorder had rather positive results, there were significant variations in results suggesting that this may have been due to differences in the VR treatment model, attrition criteria and requirements for therapist training. High attrition may have negative effects for both clients and therapists; clients may be discouraged from seeking further therapeutic support while therapists feel as if they have not delivered effective therapy.
In one study, self-guided VRET,(virtual reality therapy) and waitlist control were contrasted. The treatment was conducted by a virtual therapist who provided voiceover instructions outlining the principles of exposure therapy and exercise regimens. Such approaches have great potential for scaling, but it was time and resource-intensive for virtual therapists to set up and store their equipment, some participants even experienced simulator sickness and high stress levels during the sessions.
Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis permits the reeducation of perspective concerning those social occasions that obviously provoke your anxiety. You will work with the practitioner in hypnotherapy sessions to relax and focus on successes such as tapping away any irrelevant thoughts or feelings that cause an anxious reaction in social situations.
Hypnosis may appear to be a pseudoscience, and yet, for decades of research and countless clinical trials have all shown that indeed hypnosis is among the greatest treatments for many ailments and disorders, such as social anxiety disorder.
One study used VR to simulate socially distressing events for people living with SAD, and found an average attrition rate that was low - suggesting they could tolerate both virtual environments and avatars, and provide adequate levels of immersion and presence in VR environments.
Another similar study using hypnosis to address social anxiety of those diagnosed with SAD showed that it could significantly reduce their social anxiety. Hypnosis also changed participants' attentional biases - an essential component in decreasing anxiety levels - which were demonstrated through ERP results showing lower N170 and
