Using VR technology in psychotherapy has significantly improved treatment effectiveness

Using VR technology in psychotherapy, the therapeutic effect has been significantly improved

Recently, psychologists are increasingly using virtual reality (VR) technology in psychological experiments. Psychologists can use VR technology to create any environment they need and control all visual and auditory factors, so this technology is very convenient.

The development of VR technology makes it difficult for people to distinguish between virtual scenes and the real world. The brain is tricked into thinking that it is in the virtual environment being viewed. Even though you consciously know that this is VR and not a real space, your brain incorporates senses such as sight and hearing into the virtual reality construct as if they were real.

What is the difference between people’s reactions in a real environment and a VR environment?

VR test yawn

Researchers conducted an interesting experiment - using VR to test yawning.

When we see others yawning, about half of us will also be infected and yawn accordingly. This is a contagious physiological phenomenon. But if someone suddenly appears at this time, such as your leader, then you may stop yawning because you will feel a bit embarrassed to yawn in front of your leader.

Researchers placed subjects in a VR environment. When the subjects saw a "person" yawning in the VR environment, about half of the subjects were also infected. When the "leader" in the VR environment suddenly appeared, the subjects did not stop yawning. In other words, stimuli that trigger contagious yawning in real life have the same effect in VR environments, but stimuli that suppress yawning in real life have no effect in VR environments. Why is this?

Conscious and subconscious

Researchers have discovered that the human brain uses multiple senses simultaneously to construct our perception of reality. Different senses interact and compare with each other to create a seamless sense of reality. When we enter the park, we can not only admire the gorgeous flowers, but also hear the sweet chirping of birds and smell the fragrant fragrance of flowers. Our three senses of sight, hearing and smell work together to create this complete sense of reality. What can be concluded from the VR experience is that building a sense of reality does not have to rely on the participation of all the senses. For example, pure visual presentation is enough to let us feel the beauty of a complete park. Sound was added just to make the realism of the park's beauty more convincing.

Therefore, the contagious nature of yawning can be triggered by visual and auditory stimulation, which is a subconscious behavior. However, when yawning has already begun, our awareness kicks in. Just like we may be suddenly frightened by something happening in the outside world, but we can quickly control our nervousness. People are subconsciously inclined to yawn when they see a leader walking in, even though they feel they are losing their composure by doing so and therefore consciously suppress the behavior. In a virtual environment, because you know that the person coming is virtual, there is no need to control yourself. The behavior of suppressing yawning is not just an unconscious automatic reaction, but can also be controlled through conscious beliefs.

VR technology used in psychotherapy

There is a contrast between what the conscious brain knows and what the subconscious brain feels, like you can overcome fear, but you cannot suppress the tension caused by fear. The results of this study provide researchers with more clues: virtual reality technology has already achieved results in audio-visual aspects, and will focus on the development of tactile experience in the future. This not only makes the experience feel more real, but also helps researchers understand the process by which various sensory modules in the brain interact and compare with each other when people perceive reality.

Currently VR technology is gradually being used to treat psychological and mental illnesses, such as fear of heights, anorexia, social disorders, schizophrenia, etc.

In the treatment of acrophobia, VR technology is mainly used to create virtual situations that make patients afraid of heights, such as looking down from high, taking a transparent sightseeing elevator, etc., in order to eliminate the patient's nervousness; In the treatment of anorexia, patients are allowed to watch virtual characters in a VR environment easily complete some tasks that require high body shape, such as crossing some obstacles, etc., in order to increase the patient's enthusiasm to change their body shape; in the treatment of social disorders , VR technology is used to establish virtual social scenes, allowing patients to participate in social activities with virtual characters in the scene, so as to eliminate patients' social fear; in the treatment of schizophrenia, VR technology is mainly used to simulate schizophrenia patients By presenting virtual hallucinations to patients with schizophrenia, they can understand the process of hallucinations and receive specialized treatment to overcome and eliminate various hallucinations. Clinical practice shows that using VR technology in psychotherapy can significantly improve treatment results.

VR technology has had a profound impact on people’s way of thinking, world view, space and time. In the future, VR technology will be increasingly used in the field of psychotherapy, greatly promoting and improving the level of psychotherapy and becoming a commonly used technology in psychotherapy.

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