TREATING ACROPHOBIA WITH THE HELP OF VIRTUAL REALITY

Over the last couple of years, the technology of virtual reality had a massive breakthrough, extending its offerings into multiple fields such as education, arts, therapy, entertainment, architecture, sports, film and many others. In this paper, we will focus on the influence of virtual reality in therapy, with emphasis on treating acrophobia with the help of virtual reality. Using virtual reality to treat acrophobia has proved to be very effective, as numerous studies have shown. As medication and standard cognitive behavioural therapy manage to alleviate the symptoms, the most effective therapies require confronting the trauma itself. Hence, virtual reality therapy is becoming more popular, as it is adopted by hospitals and medical centres. Virtual Reality therapy is used to treat patients with different phobias. The patient is exposed to an artificially created environment, the phobia being triggered by both visual and auditory stimuli. During the session, the therapist can monitor the patient’s reactions and adjust the exposure to the environment - exposure therapy, which implies gradually increasing or decreasing the intensity of the exposure, based on the current level of anxiety.