Redesign Me: Virtual Reality Experience of the Line of Life and Its Connection to a Healthier Self

Abstract

Virtual Reality is used in various ways for creating a storytelling experience. It gives us the opportunity to imagine one’s life events as a story, and in settings that are intended to aid the self, such as treatment of trauma, anxiety, phobia, etc. This paper discusses the ways that challenging experiences change the way people perceive their life narratives and form their memories. This paper suggests that virtual reality (VR) can be used for the exploration of alternative scenarios in order to see one’s overall line of life in a new and healthier way. Considering the theoretical background of the narrative self, this research proposes a novel view of VR immersion as a medium for constructing a new storyline and attitude to the past. The approach would also influence attitudes regarding the present and future, and thus better shape the narrative of the self, which can lead to healthier life experiences.

Reconstructing Personal Stories in Virtual Reality as a Mechanism to Recover the Self

“…It is intended to be used to discover new opportunities for the clinical application of VR, which generally involves emotional processing, habituation, cognitive restructuring for new responses to dangerous stimuli, and integration of non-traumatized information into the belief structure [37]. In this sense, it is possible to consider the treatment as preventing negative experiences from establishing one-way false beliefs about reality such as "the world is a dangerous place" [38]. Moreover, the experiences that one can gain through exposure in VR can show that there are many options for the active creation of reality depending on personal choice, interpretation of events, and view upon the world.…”

“…For example, PTSD patients often have difficulty living in the present [73][74][75]. In such cases, more robust therapeutic results require an understanding of how to interpret, explain, accept, and intertwine the traumatic event into an overarching and consistent narrative of human life, acknowledging the many storylines and backgrounds that form the self and its life story [38,[76][77][78]. In other words, to achieve therapeutic recovery, it is necessary to consider how to use the narrator's ability to form a new narrative and to explain the traumatic event as a meaningful part of their life story [79], which can be further aided by utilizing the storytelling characteristics of VR.…”

“…This connection between the narrative and post traumatic growth highlights the natural human ability to reassess a personal narrative (i.e., to achieve cognitive restructuring) and find resolutions in seemingly unresolvable outcomes in different processes and contexts of recreating the self [88][89][90][91]. The way trauma affects each personal narrative has been the subject of much research [92]; in this study, we would like to consider these findings and put them into the context of the personal growth people learn and experience through stories about life and the meanings they attach to these stories [93] while utilizing the power of VR in visualizing and altering one's storyline to recover the self [38]. The way in which people perceive any story as a part of their life and then narrate the event for future generations has always been a method for reassessing and processing life's adversities to create resilience rather than distress [94] and achieve growth through healing [95][96][97].…”

“…However, if VR is used to further improve a person's health under the consideration of the self as a narrative unity, it is possible to dive further into the experience and start acting upon scenarios that differ from the real event by relying on the principles of storytelling and the idea that through narrative experiences, growth can be achieved. This treatment should be managed by a therapist who can guide the storyline to obtain advanced therapeutic results from the virtual experience, or to intervene when a different mindset is necessary to improve cognitive imbalances (i.e., to achieve cognitive restructuring) [38,[113][114][115] ( Figure 2). Narrator and protagonist in Virtual Reality.…”

“…Instead of just having the narrator lead the protagonist in the Virtual Reality simulation (left), the narrator (the therapist) might converse with the person exposed to the Virtual Reality simulation in real time (right) to assess changes in perception and cognitive models that become evident during the experience to achieve restructuring of unhealthy thinking patterns. Therefore, other "reality" options such as AR and MR enhance reality perception, while VR proposes an alternative, but sufficiently immersive reality that can bring about transformation for the self [16,38]. While in AR and MR it can be difficult to obtain full immersion, the realism of VR can make it difficult to distinguish the impression it has from the sensations of a real experience.…”