Virtual reality helps treat social anxiety

Patients who suffer from social anxiety will soon be able to use Delft Technical University's (TU Delft) new virtual reality system to learn how to cope with their condition.

They can practice many different situations, such as asking for directions and going on a blind date, 'safely' on the computer. The avatars (virtual people) they meet respond like real people. The University of Amsterdam's clinical psychology department will start using the system officially on Thursday, 27 October 2011.
 
The Delft Remote Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy system (DRVRET) was developed at TU Delft.

''It's for helping people with social phobias," says researcher Willem-Paul Brinkman. ''These are people who have severe difficulty in certain social situations. Practicing in a safe, virtual environment with avatars can help them cope with this. And the patient's behaviour during the exercises offers the therapist more insight into the problem."
 
Psychologists from the University of Amsterdam developed a wide range of situations for the therapy. For example, a patient can ask for directions, purchase a bra, attend a job interview or go on a blind date.

The therapist adapts the situation depending on the patient's performance. There is a "friendly" script as well as one in which the avatars are not so accommodating.

The system also records body signals that indicate the level of anxiety, such as transpiration and heart rate. University of Amsterdam professor and psychologist Paul Emmelkamp, ''Practice is incredibly important for people with social anxiety. Even regular role-playing is too scary at first. Virtual reality is less intimidating."
 
TU Delft has already designed a virtual environment for dealing with fear of flying as well as a virtual pub.

''The current system has two important new features," says Brinkman. ''Patients can now talk to the avatars and the avatars talk back. What is more, this is a so-called telesystem, which means that patient and therapist do not have to be at the same location."Ultimately, it should be possible to use this type of virtual therapy entirely automatically. For the time being, however, the therapist remains in control.

The initial results of the new system are expected in two years.