Virtual environments in clinical psychology.

Abstract

Virtual reality is a technology, a communication interface, and an artificial experience. These facets are the foundations of a new clinical environment that can be used for integrating and enhancing actual therapeutic approaches. For this reason, virtual reality is starting to play an important role in clinical psychology-as shown by its use in the treatment of phobias, eating disorders and obesity, male erectile dysfunctions, and posttraumatic stress disorders-that is expected to increase in the next years. This article presents the possible role of virtual environments in clinical psychology, discussing their clinical rationale. Finally, it describes the technological tools and safety requirements associated with the use of this approach. People perceive external reality through the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. If any one of these sensory inputs is re

Virtual reality exposure using three-dimensional images for the treatment of social phobia

“…23,24 Moreover, exposure to virtual environments bridges the gap between an imagined situation and a real one; it allows the patient to be exposed to anxiety-generating stimuli as if he or she were in a real situation. 25,26 When treating those with social phobia, live exposure is a more difficult procedure to perform, as social situations are variable and unpredictable, which makes building hierarchies for gradual and repeated exposure more difficult. 27 VRE also has the advantages of costing less than in vivo exposure, because it shortens the treatment time, and being associated with fewer dropouts than live exposure.…”

Virtual Reality and Body Dissatisfaction Across the Eating Disorder’s Spectrum

“…To achieve such distinction, a clinician can, for example, ask a woman who considers herself too big or too fat to use her virtual body to pass through a narrow door or a virtual space that looks too small to her. When she realizes she can pass through the narrow door, it creates an important doubt in her mind about the realism of her perception [32]. As a consequence, she becomes more likely to admit that her mental representation of her body is distorted, and to develop a new, more realistic and less distressing view of her body.…”

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“…De acuerdo con la literatura, varias características de la rV aumentan su utilidad en terapia: es altamente flexible y programable permitiendo al terapeuta ejercer un control preciso sobre el ambiente ajustándolo a las necesidades individuales de cada cliente y/o aplicaciones terapéuticas; es más segura y tiene una mayor aplicabilidad, al permitir exponer al paciente a condiciones que resultarían inseguras ó difíciles en el mundo real; permite una mayor confidencialidad, al sustituir el tratamiento de grupo o exposición in vivo por el ambiente virtual, ya que los primeros pueden involucrar la participación de otras personas en el tratamiento; e implica un menor coste, al no tener que reproducir situaciones reales (Antony, 2011;Glantz, y cols. 1996;Glantz y cols., 2003;Riva, 2003;Robillard y cols., 2010). Diferentes estudios han demostrado la eficacia de la rV como técnica de exposición para el tratamiento del tAs y mhp.…”