Fear isn’t always such a bad thing. It is, after all, a self-preservation response programmed into our DNA that can be useful in keeping us out of harm’s way.
When that fear is constant and irrational, however, it can become a crippling problem, and one that a whole lot of us struggle with every day. Nearly 25 million Americans report having the fear of flying phobia, and almost nine percent of the adult population in the US have at least one extreme specific fear.
This is a problem that interested Swedish Psychologist Philip Lindner, who believes that virtual reality can be the key to overcoming these irrational fears.
If you experience something you are afraid of in VR, and you manage to stay in that situation despite the discomfort, then you have most likely lowered the barriers for trying it in real life.
Lindner tested out this theory by exposing arachnophobic patients to their biggest fear: Big, hairy spiders – albeit virtual ones.
,
,
The initial findings of the study were extremely encouraging, with even severely phobic patients reporting diminished anxiety, and they felt able to interact with increasingly realistic-looking creepy-crawlers.
Via VR you can virtually recreate in detail a realistic and safe experience, where you can try and expose yourself to – and stay in a situation – that you feel is uncomfortable, so that you can experience that the discomfort actually disappears by itself. The things you thought would happen, most likely did not.
The same principle of gradual immersion was applied – perhaps more literally – to his next project, The Power of Swimming, a partnership between the Swedish Swimming Federation, energy company E.ON, and M&C Saatchi Stockholm.
In a land full of lakes and surrounded by the sea, it’s perhaps surprising that one in five Swedish children can’s swim, so the project wanted to inspire young people who were nervous around water to overcome their fear and dive in.
,
Source: The Next Web