Virtual reality to overcome fears

Abstract

The article reviews the current state of virtual reality (VR) treatments for mental health problems and vindicates the role of nursing in this field. Starting from the fact that exposure therapy is the most effective treatment for anxiety disorders, VR is presented as an alternative that allows the patient to be exposed to the feared situation in a controlled, safe, gradable and repeatable way, with an efficacy similar to in-vivo exposure and superior to imaginal exposure, as well as enabling objective measures of anxiety through biofeedback sensors. The evidence is reviewed by disorder (specific phobias, social phobia, panic disorder with agoraphobia, post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety) and other emerging applications (eating disorders, autism, ADHD and addictions). The work includes a case of aerophobia treated with VR in the Anxiety Unit of Parc de Salut Mar, with a significant reduction in anxiety and satisfactory in-vivo exposure. It is concluded that VR exposure is as effective as in-vivo exposure in specific phobias, with few side effects, and that nursing must continue researching to standardize protocols.