Virtual Reality Helps Overcome Common Fears
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters, August 4) - Virtual airplanes, balconies, bridges and even a virtual Vietnam War are helping patients deal with their phobias more quickly and more cheaply than conventional methods, psychologists said on Friday.

The psychologists said the novelty of virtual-reality tools, possibly known to most people as arcade games, might lure some of the most phobic into therapy. And they said the technique worked as well as tried-and-true methods of gradually exposing people to their fears.

Barbara Rothbaum of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta said the virtual-reality approach combines a sophisticated computer program with a headset with earphones, a ''thunderseat'' and a sound platform for recreating the rumble of thunder or the shaking of a mortar impact.

``It is more than just the game at arcades, because the user experiences a sense of presence, a sense of immersion in the environment,'' Rothbaum told a meeting of the American Psychological Association. Rothbaum said her team, which includes a small company called Virtually Better Inc., has a range of virtual environments to help therapists treat anxious patients.

``We have virtual thunderstorms for people scared of thunderstorms,'' she said. They also have a virtual airplane, virtual elevator, virtual footbridges over canyons and balconies for people afraid of heights. ``We've got a Virtual Vietnam for Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder,'' she added.

Approach Builds On Standard Treatment

The approach builds on a standard treatment called exposure therapy. Rothbaum said anxiety usually comes about as a memory of fear of some kind. ``If it's a fear memory, usually the meaning is, 'It's dangerous,''' she said.

To modify this fear, she said, a therapist first needs to activate the fear, then modify the feeling while the patient is still anxious. ``You put a person into a situation that scares them and it brings it right up,'' she said. ``They stay in the situation long enough for their fear to come down.''

Samantha Smith of the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington tried the approach with 45 patients who had fear of flying.  One third of them received standard exposure treatment, which included taking them to airports, on airplanes and on real flights. One third used the virtual reality airplane. The final third was given no treatment.

The virtual reality and standard exposure groups both reported they felt less anxious about flying after going through the treatment.  To make sure the patients did not get better just on paper, Smith asked them to book, pay for a take a round-trip flight from Atlanta to Houston.

Three of the 15 untreated patients took a flight, compared to 10 of 15 patients who underwent standard exposure therapy and eight of the 15 virtual-reality patients.  ``This study seems to suggest that virtual reality is an effective treatment for fear of flying,'' she said.

And it was cheaper and easier. She said it can take time to get to an airport and get onto a flight -- and it makes the patient's phobia public.  ``It's a real pain,'' Smith told the meeting. ``Getting time on an empty airplane is pretty tough. They don't let just anybody walk on an airplane.''

And, she added, ``You can't have the pilot turn around and take off a couple of times because your patient would really benefit.''  She said virtual reality might help people conquer fears of things that cannot be tried out easily in real life, such as scuba diving or space walking.

The group also has developed a public speaking program that uses a virtual audience that can look interested, bored or even hostile. The Virtual Vietnam takes patients on a helicopter ride through rice paddies and jungle and includes sounds of rockets firing and men yelling.

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