If you were to google ‘Can Virtual Reality Treat Anxiety’ one of the first links would lead to an article questioning if virtual reality (VR) causes anxiety. Not really a strong first impression if someone were to look for something helpful.
If you were to look further, you would find articles, research, and evidence about the fact that it could help treat anxiety. In fact, research showed that VR intervention was actually more effective compared with the current standard therapy (Ioannou et al., 2020).
The treatment this talks about is Virtual Reality Exposure (VRE). An example of this can be seen at the University of Oxford, as they are working on something called ‘Oxford VR’. They are using their Oxford VR Social Engagement platform to help people who suffer from, for example, Social Anxiety. This treatment is meant to help practice different everyday tasks, such as riding a bus or going to a shop. This helps people get used to outside triggers and even develop strategies to make these experiences easier in real life (Kent, 2021).
There is also another form in which VR can help with anxiety, Virtual Reality Relaxation. VRelax is less of an official treatment, but it is a relaxation tool to combat stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression (VRelax, n.d.). So, there are multiple ways to use VR within the subject of anxiety!
These types of Virtual Reality solutions are becoming more and more advanced. Though people are still using man-made situations which are meant to closely resemble real life. This can never be 100% suitable for every situation, seeing that real life in itself is not that predictable. Another side of using VR is the cost of it. In some countries, VRE is already accessible to the wide public, as Oxford VR is available to the English public via the NHS. Other forms, like the VRelax, are for private use and need to be bought. Seeing that the price is near €1000, this could be a hurdle for people to adopt this technology.
I do however think that Virtual Reality and its uses for Anxiety are a great development. Especially after the last two years, I can imagine that if you were already prone to social anxiety before Corona, mostly being at home without much social interaction would not have helped. But even without that, any new treatment which could help more people should be welcomed with open arms if you ask me.
References
Ioannou, A., Papastavrou, E., Avraamides, M. N., & Charalambous, A. (2020). Virtual Reality and Symptoms Management of Anxiety, Depression, Fatigue, and Pain: A Systematic Review. SAGE Open Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1177/2377960820936163
Kent, C. (2021, February 16). Using virtual reality to overcome anxious social avoidance. Retrieved from Medical Device Network: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6823515/#:~:text=Incorporating%20VR%20in%20therapy%20can,in%20vivo%20or%20imaginal%20exposure.
VRelax. (n.d.). Letting go of worries and stress for a while! Retrieved from VRelax: https://vrelax.com/en/home-us/
Hi Lindsay! Thank you for sharing these very interesting insights on the effects of Virtual Reality that can actually contribute to treating anxiety. I was indeed aware of the fact that VR, as well as other digital (communication) tools, can pose negative effects, as you discuss in the introduction. So it is interesting to read that it also has its positive and even helpful effects! However, I was wondering, if you were to compare both the positive and negative effects of VR, do you think the positive effects still outweigh the negative ones? Since as you said the first google results lead to the negative effects for example.
Looking forward to hearing your view on this.
Best regards,
Jolien
Thank you Lindsay for this interesting post about using VR to treat anxiety. I completely agree with your statement that treating anxiety with Virtual Reality is a great development. VR is often seen as a tool to play games, but this shows that it has many more uses than that. As you mentioned, VR can be expensive for many individuals, therefore, they might not be able to experience the benefit from it. However, VR is already being used by professionals to treat anxiety. I recently read an article that stated that doctors in Brazil were using VR when vaccinating children who were scared of the needle. Overall, it seems to be an excellent tool to distract users from reality and I am excited to see what other uses it may have in the future.
Hi Thom, thank you for your comment! Most people seeing VR as something for games is one of the main reasons I decided to write this blog! I knew VR had many uses, but I only found out recently that it was also being used in therapy and similar situations. I hope that the use of VR continues to grow, and I am excited to see where this will go as well!
Hi Lindsay, thank you for sharing these interesting insights on the helpfulness of Virtual Reality! I was indeed aware of that fact that VR, as well as other digital (communication) tools can pose negative effects on its users, as you mention in the introduction. Therefore it is refreshing to read that it can also actually contribute to treating anxiety! However I was wondering, as there are both positive and negative effects of VR, whether you think that these positive effects outweigh the negative effects? Since the first google results that come up lead to the negative effects for example.
Looking forward to hearing your view on this.
Best regards,
Jolien
Hi Jolien, thank you for your comment! Good question! I think with something like therapy for anxiety, the best treatment/help is very personal to each patient and situation. So, in this case, I think it is amazing that there are multiple ways to offer therapy and try out what is best for different people!
Dear Lindsay,
Thank you very much for this interesting post. Although virtual reality is being used in different industries such as shopping, it is less known that VR is used to treat mental disorders. I read some articles which say that the use of technology especially virtual reality is increasing in health care in the last few years. The pandemic has also accelerated it. During the pandemic, we came across lots of various mobile applications which help us to protect our mental health.
Moreover, since the 1990s scientists used VR systems to create and control complex, multi-sensory, 3d worlds in their labs. Recently, with the falling costs of computing and the increasing capability of the new generation of VR systems, it became possible to tackle some specific mental disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and phobias. I see Virtual Reality for the treatment of anxiety as a technological breakthrough. For now, VR is not the solution to the anxiety, however absolutely a good starting point.
Hi Ayshe, thank you for your comment! Indeed, I do think the pandemic has forced us to be more creative than ever. I think anything that could help people in some way is excellent and VR has helped to create some wonderful new ways to do so!