Virtual reality - a valuable tool to advance treatment of mental disorders - Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

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Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2019; 1: 65–73

DOI: 10.12740/APP/101654

                        Virtual reality – a valuable tool to advance treatment
                        of mental disorders

                        Anna Grochowska, Marek Jarema, Adam Wichniak

                        Summary
                        Human-computer interactions are a new path of treatment in mental healthcare. Virtual Reality technology is
                        an interesting example of a digital tool that can be used in the treatment of mental disorders. It may be use-
                        ful for improving personal competencies or overcoming deficits. This paper presents a range of successful VR
                        applications in psychiatry and psychology. VR was found to be effective in the treatment of anxiety disorders,
                        PTSD, schizophrenia, eating disorders, and substance use disorders.
                        Repetitiveness of virtual experience in a particular environment offered by VR technology makes it a prom-
                        ising option in the treatment of mental disorders. Another asset of VR is a good control of intensity of thera-
                        peutic interventions that can be regulated by a therapist. Moreover, at the VR session can be individualized
                        for each patient and it may be adapted to his/her personal preferences and needs. VR offers sense of “being
                        here and now” during the session. It is also an engaging method of training for patients who do not want to
                        use the conventional training techniques.
                        Recently, VR use has become more available and acknowledged. However, there are still certain limitations
                        for its broader use in the sector of mental health. The most significant one being the high cost of VR software
                        designing, as well as VR hardware devices, which are still too expensive for mass adoption.

                        virtual reality, psychotherapy, psychiatry, cyberpsychology

INTRODUCTION                                                         ing main stream psychology in the 60’s, now, in
                                                                     the wake of 21th century, we can observe a new
New digital technologies are now entering all                        trend that is already ahead of all convention-
aspects of our lives. One hundred and sixty                          al forms of treatment in mental health. It is cy-
years after the nascence of Freud, we are wit-                       berpsychology, psychology based on human-
nessing the moment when computational sci-                           computer interaction.
ence is merging with the field of psychiatry and                        Thanks to the use of certain digital devices,
psychotherapy. Long after the beginning of 20th                      it is possible to introduce a human being into
century and the psychoanalytic revolution in                         a selected three-dimensional environment and
the understanding of human behavior, and after                       make him/her interact with a computer-gen-
the cognitive-behavioral approaches conquer-                         erated world by multi-sensory channels. This
                                                                     technology is called Virtual Reality (VR) and it
                                                                     was first described in 1986 by Jaron Lamier. Al-
Anna Grochowska, 1Marek Jarema, 1Adam Wichniak: 1Third
1

Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology,
                                                                     though technology avenues have advanced a lot
Warsaw, Poland                                                       since then, the idea itself has not change. VR still
Correspondence address: anna.grochowska100@gmail.com                 involves three core dimensions, ie. 1/ The first is
66                                        Anna Grochowska et al.

an immersion usually achieved by head mount-             a controlled exposure to specific stimuli nor-
ed display.; 2/ The second one is an interaction,        malizes affective regulation. The use of VRET is
which is possible thanks to electronic gloves or         fast-developing and spreading fast to the clinical
trackers.; and 3/ The third one is a subjective          practice, with each month bringing several new
“sense of presence” which refers to the aware-           and excellent studies and meta-analyses on the
ness of physical participation in the digital cre-       subject. A majority of studies that investigating
ated world [1].                                          VRET [4–6] demonstrate its effectiveness. How-
  The two most common modes of VR appli-                 ever, comparisons of VRET and CBT-SD did not
cation are exposure-based therapy and behav-             show any significant differences between the ef-
ioral skills training (2). VR enables doctors and        fects of the two forms of therapy [5]. An experi-
psychologists to observe the patient’s behavior          mental study of Triscari [7] suggests the same ef-
and interactions with virtual objects or stimuli.        ficacy of those two approaches. The study com-
Depending on the training goal, it also allows           pared group of patients with aerophobia receiv-
them to control and modify environment. Pa-              ing either CBT treatment combined with SD
tient’s particular experience is evoked in order         (both in vivo exposure and imaginal exposure)
to improve his/her competencies or overcome              or CBT fortified with VRET [7]. Linder [8] dem-
limitations. Researchers have tried to use VR in         onstrates high efficacy of both self-led (conduct-
the treatment of various mental disorders. It was        ed at home) and therapist-led VRET in patients
reported as a valuable tool for treatment of anx-        suffering from public speaking anxiety (PSA).
iety disorders, substance dependence, obesity,           Nevertheless, in his research the comparison of
eating disorders, and schizophrenia (3). The aim         VRET with traditional face-to-face CBT therapy
of our review is to present most significant ap-         that was drawn from meta-analysis showed no
proaches to VR treatment and to reflect future           significant difference in therapeutic progression.
possibilities for VR use in therapy of the mental        Emmelkamp’s findings demonstrate that VRET,
health disorders.                                        a method that makes people experience a “sense
                                                         of presence” during treatment, is an equivalent
                                                         to CBT with in vivo exposure. Thus, it provides
Application of VR in the treatment of anxiety            better therapeutic outcomes than CBT with im-
disorders                                                aginal exposure. A meta-analysis of 14 clinical
                                                         trials of the VRET application in patients suffer-
According to the Turner and Casey’s meta-anal-           ing from specific phobias confirmed important
ysis of clinical trials, a majority of previous VR       behavioral improvement right after VR training
applications in mental health were associated            and also during a post-treatment assessment [9].
with specific phobias e.g., social phobia, arach-        However, there were again no significant dif-
nophobia, acrophobia, aerophobia etc. [2,4].             ferences between VRET and CBT in vivo expo-
A person suffering from a specific phobia expe-          sure. In turn, Freeman’s results [10] suggested
riences augmented amount of anxiety, related             that VRET could in fact be the more beneficial
to a particular item or situational context, which       intervention. He applied VRET to patients with
results in avoidance of situations or objects that       fear of heights (acrophobia) who were assisted
trigger it.                                              and guided by virtual coach created with actor’s
  The traditional and widely accepted method-            voice and motion capture technology. The ef-
ology of managing this problem is cognitive –            fects of this form of treatment exceeded those
behavioral therapy integrated with systematic            of the therapist-assisted interventions and were
desensitization (CBT-SD) based on the exposure           comparable to the effects of best psychological
in vivo or imaginal exposure.                            interventions reported in a meta-analysis of re-
  The digital modification of this therapy is Vir-       searches on phobia treatments. In a meta-anal-
tual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET). It differs         ysis of studies on VR therapy of anxiety disor-
from the conventional one in the manner of ex-           ders prepared by Fernandez-Alvarez [11] were
posure. VRET users are directly immersed in the          examined post-treatment deterioration rates.
virtual reality world with a digital presence of         Findings show very low deterioration frequen-
a particular feared stimulus. In both techniques         cy, which leads to a conclusion that there are no
                                                     Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2019; 1: 65–73
Virtual reality – a valuable tool to advance treatment of mental disorders               67

harmful effects of using VR interventions in the           negative self-esteem can lead to a deterioration
treatment of anxiety disorder.                             in a schizophrenic symptoms after exposure to
  VRET has proved to be a promising form of                social stressors.
treatment also in the case of patients suffer-                Another important VR implementation in the
ing from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)             treatment of schizophrenia involves different
[6,12,13]. Findings show high effectiveness of             programs of cognitive rehabilitation. People suf-
VR approach to PTSD treatment after various                fering from schizophrenia usually manifest dif-
traumatic events. However, it does not seem to             ferent dysfunctions within attention, processing
provide better improvement than application of             speed, learning and memory, problem solving,
traditional treatment options, such as imaginal            executive functions, and social cognitions. There
prolonged exposure, eye movement desensiti-                is evidence that VR techniques are effective in
zation, pharmacological interventions or others.           amelioration of related neurological symptoms
[6,12,13]. Nevertheless, the use of VRET in PTSD           [17,18]. VR was also reported to be effective
is widely explored and each year brings new                method of Social Skills Training (SST). SST im-
findings. Norr et al. [14] showed that VRET can            proves patients’ quality of life and it is benefi-
be more effective than conventional therapies if           cial in their day-to-day functioning. By reinforc-
applied to younger populations, also indepen-              ing social and cognitive skills, both the schizo-
dently people not taking antidepressants, group            phrenia symptoms and related deficits can nota-
with higher hyperarousal symptoms and great-               bly decrease. When using VR-based treatment,
er suicide risk. All this implies that the choice of       it is possible to create virtual environment sim-
type of the treatment should be personalized to            ilar to patients’ daily lives what makes it possi-
each patient.                                              ble for them to practice their social performance
                                                           in many dimensions. During a VR session, a pa-
                                                           tient can meet and interact with animated agents
Application of VR in the treatment of schizophrenia        (avatars), thus work on his/her direct communi-
                                                           cation skills. Patient’s activation and freedom of
Another mental disorder where VR therapy                   reactions in virtual environment creates an op-
application has been widely explored is schiz-             portunity to gain the corrective experience. VR
ophrenia. VR technology has enriched cogni-                application appears to be successful in improv-
tive-behavioral interventions for schizophrenia.           ing social cognition and social skills of schizo-
There are many important utilizations of VR as             phrenia patients [19]. In 2014, Rus-Calafell et al.
far as assessment and treatment of schizophre-             used a VR treatment program based on Soski-
nia are concerned [15], eg. One of them is assess-         train scenarios treatment that included working
ment of positive symptoms severity in patients’            on seven areas of social activity: emotion recog-
daily lives. Psychotic experiences such as hal-            nition, interpretation of expressions and inten-
lucinations or paranoid ideation can be directly           tions, expressing emotions, assertive commu-
reported by patients during a VR session [15].             nication, interactional and conversational skills
Persecutory ideation in VR environment differs             [20]. The treatment reduced patients’ social anxi-
among clinical and non-clinical groups and this            ety and discomfort. In addition, the training out-
is why VR can facilitate assessment of patients            comes included improvement in learning emo-
with schizophrenia and schizophreniform dis-               tion perception, assertive behaviors, and longer
orders. Freeman et al. found that the delusional           time spent in a conversation. It was found that
clinical group was 12 times more likely to report          an integrated VR program for social skills train-
persecutory ideation during a VR session [15].             ing (SOSKITRAIN) reduced negative schizo-
  Virtual reality scenarios can be also used to ob-        phrenia symptoms [19]. What deserves special
serve interdependence of schizophrenic symp-               attention is the fact that VR SST in schizophrenia
toms and some personal risk factors. Jongeneel             treatment seems to be an interesting method for
et al. [16] aimed to manipulate the virtual envi-          patients who usually have no interest in conven-
ronment that influenced the liability to psycho-           tional SST. Most of schizophrenia patients dem-
sis and found a self-esteem to be a modulator              onstrate little or no motivation for traditional
of psychotic responses. They demonstrated that             forms of training, which greatly hinders their
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2019; 1: 65–73
68                                      Anna Grochowska et al.

progression and improvement. Hence, VR tech-             ulate their negative emotions related to the voic-
nology is especially useful in that respect as it        es they hear. In theory, this is also a way to prac-
seems to attract patients and increase their will-       tise assertiveness and strengthen personal sense
ingness to participate in SST [21].                      of self. The results demonstrating the effective-
  Furthermore, the implementation of VR was              ness of AT were replicated also in subsequent
found to be beneficial also in vocational reha-          study conducted by the same research team [23].
bilitation of patients suffering from schizophre-        Schizophrenia symptoms, particularly audito-
nia. In 2013, Tsang and Man [17] reported some           ry verbal hallucinations and depressive mood
remarkable results. They used a shopping mall            were reduced after treatment. Nevertheless, Per-
scenario to practice patients’ problem-solving           cie’s therapy is not the only novel approach to
skills and their communication with other peo-           psychosis treatment. There is an entire range of
ple by playing a shop assistant role. The tasks          Virtual Reality Assisted Therapies dedicated to
varied from simple and easy to more elaborate            schizophrenic patients. Recently there have been
ones, and patients were given a direct feedback          attempts to implement VR-CBT interventions in-
during their performance. The results of the             volving the use of avatars which match to the
study revealed significantly better work perfor-         patients’ paranoid ideations. [24]. Patients are of-
mance and self-efficacy after VR training than           fered a possibility to challenge their delusional
after application of compared but more conven-           suspicious thoughts by interacting with their av-
tional non-VR trainings. The advantage of vir-           atars in a direct way. AT proved effective in re-
tual reality vocational training system (VRVTS)          ducing patients’ feeling of anxiety and momen-
has an asset of the potential infinite number of         tary paranoia, and its effects exceeded those re-
performance repetitions [17]. Patients can get           ported in the control group treated with tradi-
a complex task involving multiple cognitive              tional CBT interventions.
functions. The VR experience is similar to a re-
al-life one, but is less demanding and stressful.
What is more, patients can receive an immedi-            Application of VR in the treatment of eating
ate feedback and can change the level of task            disorders
difficulty depending on their personal learning
speed. Similar systems of vocational rehabili-           VR protocols were also addressed to patients
tation could be created for countless scenarios          with obesity and eating disorders: anorexia, bu-
and job contexts. VR could thus become a valu-           limia nervosa, and compulsive eating disorder
able tool to considerably increase employabili-          (ED). All these disorders share some common
ty of patients suffering from schizophrenia. As          features: unhealthy weight-control behaviors
an employment is an essential element of hu-             and body image disturbance [25]. In particular,
man psychological balance, due to positive-              therapy can focus on regulation of eating habits
ly affecting self-image identity and providing           or working with personal body image to con-
a sense of hope, it is also an important for im-         vert it into positive and satisfactory one. Con-
proving patients’ mental health and combatting           ventional, widely-accepted forms of treatment
the illness [17].                                        of eating disorders includes cognitive-behavioral
  VR has proved in therapy of schizophrenia              interventions teaching patients how to change
not only in terms of aiming cognitive or voca-           their patterns of thinking and behaviors. How-
tional rehabilitation. There are novel therapies         ever, as all these disorders have slightly differ-
that have recently emerged thanks to the VR              ent clinical presentations, there is a need to de-
technology. Percie du Sert et al. [22] construct-        velop efficient and comprehensive methods for
ed a virtual scenario enabling schizophrenic pa-         their treatment. Applying VR to the therapy of
tients to interact with their auditory hallucina-        ED proved to be meaningful for both, assess-
tions. Namely, a patient can converse with a rep-        ment and treatment [26,27].
resentation of his persecutory voice. It is called         In 1999, Perpiñá and his research team were
Avatar Therapy (AT) and it seems beneficial in           pioneers with their findings that VR environ-
terms of therapeutic targets in a relational ther-       ment could be more efficient in therapy of body
apy approach. Patients learn how to better reg-          image (BI) disturbance, than a Standard Body
                                                     Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2019; 1: 65–73
Virtual reality – a valuable tool to advance treatment of mental disorders                    69

Image Treatment (SBIT), which – at that time –             with a patient suffering from bulimia nervosa,
consisted of cognitive-behavioral techniques and           Ronceroa and Perpiñá introduced VR as a part
relaxation [28]. Body image refers to the men-             of complex cognitive-behavioral treatment [30].
tal perception of one’s own body. In virtual re-           VR sessions were to help the patient regain con-
ality one can create subjectively perceived and            trol over her behaviors, plan her meals and cre-
desired body image by manipulating a virtual               ate new, healthy eating habits, eg. eating in the
three-dimensional human figure, making dif-                same place or focusing on eating. In the sec-
ferent body parts bigger or smaller on demand              ond stage, the patient was exposed to image of
[26]. The patient can notice and discuss any dis-          unhealthy food and encouraged to replace un-
crepancy between reality and his/her imagina-              healthy behaviors and distorted thoughts with
tion. It is a useful tool to help the patients under-      more adequate ones. In this research, the VR
stand that perception of their own body is basi-           proved to be an important part of treatment
cally a relative concept.                                  strategy, as it reduced bulimia’s symptoms and
  Another reason to apply VR to correct a dis-             dysfunctional behaviors, including binges, vom-
torted body image is to try to make it more real-          its, food avoidance, and fear of eating. After the
istic and positive. This approach is represented           treatment, the patient was more able to control
by Riva [29], who based his findings on the “al-           impulses and scored better results on psycho-
locentric lock theory”. The theory explains obe-           pathology scales. Meanwhile, the search for the
sity and eating disorders as a consequence of              right methodology of implementing VR to the
an “allocentric negative body image”, which is             treatment of ED and obesity still continues in
a distorted perception of one’s body. It is a con-         various laboratories around the world.
sequence of the feedback about one’s body re-
ceived from others and internalization of those            Application of VR in the treatment of substance use
opinions. What is more, the distorted self-per-
                                                           disorders
ceptions are too firm to allow any information
to update, even after evident body changes, for               Researchers are also trying to find the right
example significant weight loss. VR-based body-            way to introduce Virtual Reality techniques into
image protocol developed by Riva allows intro-             therapy of substance use disorders (SUD), in-
ducing changes into the personal perception of             cluding drug, alcohol and nicotine dependence.
one’s body. This treatment protocol involves re-           The most broadly examined use of VR in SUD
living past experience in Virtual Reality with the         is connected with a treatment of nicotine de-
support of a psychotherapist, and at the same              pendence [4]. VR approach to the smoking ces-
time expression of feelings. This way, a user is           sation is based on Cue Exposure Therapy (CET).
able to recognize cognitive errors in their per-           It is well known that smokers develop a connec-
ception of various situations and to interpret             tion between smoking a cigarette and diverse
them in a different way. They can also experi-             “cues” which include specific places, objects
ence a given situation from a third person per-            or people [31]. It was demonstrated that those
spective and thus change the negative view con-            cues can elicit an urge to smoke, called a crav-
cerning their bodies or any other body-related             ing, which is considered the main source of ad-
misperception they might have. Riva’s compre-              diction itself. Thus, the presence of a particular
hensive VR-based CBT treatment resulted in                 cue can trigger a compulsive smoking behavior
a significant patient improvement [29].                    or can relapse in return for ex-smokers. A nico-
  The treatment based on changing eating hab-              tine-dependent person usually associates smok-
its aims to normalize patients’ disturbed eating           ing with social situations or daily activities that
patterns. During a VR session it is possible to            cannot be avoided. In Virtual Reality CET, a pa-
uncover a trigger for abnormal eating behavior             tient is repeatedly exposed to the trigger that
[26]. In simulated real-life situation one can ob-         provokes craving in order to extinguish the cue-
serve a cue-elicited emotional response. Taking            reactivity [32]. VR environment is designed in
this into consideration, many researchers try to           the way that confronts the patient with his/her
create the procedures for treating individuals             particular cues. It is customized to include his/
suffering from eating disorders. In their work             her smoking-related triggers e.g. specific items,
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2019; 1: 65–73
70                                              Anna Grochowska et al.

people or situations. During a VR CET session,                    orders. Some researchers try to tailor VR to the
the patient is immersed in virtual surroundings                   therapy of sleep or sexual dysfunctions, like pre-
and tries to apply previously acquired coping                     mature ejaculation or impotence for instance.
skills to endure exposure to cues. Virtual Reali-                 However, due to the relative scarcity of data, it
ty CET proves effective in reducing craving and,                  is impossible to evaluate the effects of VR use in
in consequence, leads to higher quitting rates                    therapy of these disorders. Furthermore, VR was
and lower number of cigarettes smoked daily                       reported to be a valid method of cognitive re-
after a treatment [31]. Some findings also sug-                   habilitation, applied to help patients with some
gest that VR environment can elicit better cue-                   neurological problems, including dysfunctions
induced craving than the less advanced meth-                      after brain lesions, strokes or spinal cord inju-
ods, including the traditional cue exposure [33].                 ries. VR has also some medical applications in
  It seems that there is common belief among re-                  physical rehabilitation.
searchers that the future possibilities of VR tech-                  What is more, recent studies present endeav-
nology can notably enhance the efficacy of sub-                   ors to use VR in all sorts of non-clinical settings,
stance abuse treatments, including those related                  such as skill or self-development training, for
to alcohol and drug dependence.                                   example, for acquaintance of relaxation, spatial
                                                                  skills training, improving peripheral vision etc.
Application of VR in the treatment of other mental                It was also reported that VR approach is signif-
disorders                                                         icantly more effective than some widely accept-
                                                                  ed standard programs for management and pre-
  Beside the already mentioned most common                        vention of psychological stress [34]. These are
and explored implementations of VR in mental                      just a few examples of potential directions and
health care, there are also enthusiastic attempts                 domains where adaptation of VR technology
to apply it in the treatment of other mental dis-                 could be beneficial.

       Table 1. Comparison of VR treatment and conventional one in mental disorders (placed at the end of document).
 Mental disorder                     Conventional treatment         VR application in treatment     Comparison of VR method
                                                                                                      with a conventional
                                                                                                           treatment
 Specific phobia                  Cognitive behavioral therapy       Virtual Reality Exposure        VRET=CBT-SD in vivo
                                   integrated with systematic            Therapy (VRET).            VRET>CBT-SD imaginal
                                    desensitization (CBT-SD)                                             exposure
 Schizophrenia                    Assessment of presence of         Assessment of presence of            Various data
                                      positive symptoms              positive symptoms in VR             Various data
                                    Cognitive rehabilitation       Cognitive rehabilitation in VR      VRVTS > Cognitive
                                  Cognitive vocational training             environment                vocational training
                                                                      Virtual reality vocational
                                                                     training system (VRVTS)
 Eating disorders (ED)              Cognitive changing eating      Changing eating habits in VR        No significant data
                                              habits                VR Body Image Treatment             VRSBIT> SBIT
                                     Standard Body Image                   (VRSBIT)                         No data
                                       Treatment (SBIT)             VR Body Image Treatment
                                                                      based on “allocentric
                                                                      negative body image
 Substance use disorders (SUD)       Cue Exposure Therapy          Virtual Reality Cue Exposure          VRCET > CET
                                            (CET)                        Therapy (VRCET)

                                                           Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2019; 1: 65–73
Virtual reality – a valuable tool to advance treatment of mental disorders               71

DISCUSSION                                                 ising option for all the patient-centered forms
                                                           of therapy instead of pathology-centered prac-
The patient’s full immersion that is offered by the        tice [3]. During VR experience, patients are ful-
use of virtual reality brings many advantages to           ly involved into their therapeutic process, which
therapy, and while the same effect is much more            seems to be crucial for the success results of each
difficult to achieve with previous, traditional            treatment. Virtual reality protocols applied to
treatment options. Discovering a new, comput-              help a concrete user are based on his/her specif-
er-generated world can be exciting and engaging.           ic personal needs. The exploration of patient’s
A variety of feasible interventions makes it pos-          preferences, thoughts and emotions makes him/
sible to tailor the environment to one’s particular        her feel important and allows the active partici-
preferences. Apparently, even patients with se-            pation in the recovery process.
vere mental illnesses agree to work with VR tech-            VR devices are becoming more and more
nologies and more importantly, they consider it            available. In the last few years, several huge
a very attractive treatment option and express             commercial companies have released into the
a huge interest in experimenting with this type            general market some VR systems that are afford-
of help [1]. The use of a new VR technology can            able for an individual user. An advantage of VR
significantly enhance the motivation for rehabil-          over traditional cognitive behavioral therapy
itation in people with mental disabilities [21]. Be-       (CBT) is that it does not always require a thera-
sides, the VR enables interaction with “real-life”         pist’s presence, so it can be cheaper in the long-
avatars and places. A patient becomes an active            term use. The big interest and demand for VR
participant of a newly-constructed, virtual world.         on the market accelerates the process of its adap-
Users usually experience a “sense of presence”,            tation for at-home use. It is therefore anticipat-
which refers to a psychological concept of “be-            ed that self-guided trainings and self-assessment
ing here and now” and elicits subjective impres-           VR programs will soon appear on the market.
sion of really being inside the simulated envi-              Unfortunately, it is still within the realm of
ronment. It is sometimes defined as “the feeling           dreams and expectations that future when VR
of being in a world that exists outside the self”          interventions will be commonly available in the
[35]. VR users also have a feeling of “social pres-        public mental health care sector. For the time be-
ence” which means that they consider the inter-            ing, the high cost of software designing hinders
action with people or animals that seem to move            the popularization of this technology. The devel-
and exist real. The “sense of presence” can be es-         opment of one particular virtual scenario costs
pecially important for patients with severe men-           hundreds thousands of euro, and therefore VR is
tal illnesses like schizophrenia [21]. They do not         currently more accessible in research centers and
need to rely on their imagination, but rather they         institutions than in the public or even private
can be confronted with a new three-dimension-              healthcare facilities. Moreover, software is still
al environment, shaped to resemble their previ-            largely under construction process and is not yet
ous experiences and are offered an opportunity             good enough to be repetitive, changeable, and
to cope with difficulties they tend to encounter           applicable enough to be used in the treatment of
in their everyday lives.                                   many different dysfunctions. The VR treatment
  What is even more important, the interaction             frequently consists in reconstruction of one’s
and dynamics of stimulation in VR may be well              individual experience. A VR environment de-
controlled. It enables both patient-therapist and          signed especially for a particular individual can
therapist-patient direct feedback. It is possible          be considered useless when applied to a patient
to put an experience on hold and thus prevent              with slightly different experiences. Therefore, it
to go through non-therapeutic situations with              is not a multi-contextual tool until now and it
errors in learning. It can be paused also to in-           still cannot serve in widespread clinical use.
troduce other therapeutic techniques or to start             In recent years, we have witnessed a huge
a discussion, which makes treatment more com-              technological leap forward in VR techniques and
prehensive and supervised [36].                            utilization and we can assume that VR technol-
  Virtual reality is not just an innovation to             ogies will shortly become more flexible and will
be used in medical services, but also a prom-              be used in daily psychological and psychiatric
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2019; 1: 65–73
72                                                     Anna Grochowska et al.

practice. We can expect VR to be applied in the                                systematic desensitization, cognitive behavioral therapy com-
treatment of a wide range of dysfunctions, life                                bined with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
strains, and crises and as well as used to enhance                             therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy combined with vir-
personal competencies and skills. The hardware                                 tual reality expo. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat., 2015;11:2591-
that is continually more available for a general                               2598
market reinforces the development of VR appli-                             8. Lindner P, Milo A, Fagernäs S, Andersen J, Sigeman M, An-
cations and software for specific groups of cli-                              dersson G, et al. Therapist-led and self-led one-session vir-
ents. The potential alternative paths to use VR                               tual reality exposure therapy for public speaking anxiety with
                                                                              consumer hardware and software : A randomized controlled
interventions in mental health care seem to be
                                                                              trial.; Journal of Anxiety Disorders 2018;61:45-54.
limited only by the limits of human imagination.
Many previous digital technologies have signif-                            9. Morina N, Ijntema H, Meyerbröker K, Emmelkamp PMG. Can
                                                                              virtual reality exposure therapy gains be generalized to real-
icantly enhanced the quality of healthcare ser-
                                                                              life? A meta-analysis of studies applying behavioral assess-
vice and now similar expectations emerge in re-
                                                                              ments. Behav Res Ther.; 2015;74:18-24.
gard to VR-assisted treatment in psychotherapy
                                                                           10. Freeman D, Haselton P, Freeman J, Spanlang B, Kishore S,
and psychiatry. VR technologies hold a promise
                                                                               Albery E, et al. Automated psychological therapy using im-
of achieving level of treatment that is more con-
                                                                               mersive virtual reality for treatment of fear of heights : a sin-
trollable and fully client-centered. It is strongly                            gle-blind, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial.; Lancet
believed that following this direction therapy of                              Psychiatry, 2018;5(8):625-632.
many patients will advance. The first decade of
                                                                           11. Fernández-Álvarez J, Rozental A, Carlbring P, Colombo D,
new millennium was the time of VR birth and in                                 Riva G, Anderson PL, et al. Deterioration rates in Virtual Re-
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