Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) technologies allow for the creation of 3D environments that can be exploited at the human level, maximizing humans’ use of perceptual skills through their sensory channels, and enabling them to actively influence the course of events that take place in the virtual environment (VE). As such, they constitute a significant asset in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) via exposure therapy. In this article, we review the VR tools that have been developed to date for the treatment of PTSD. The article aims to analyze how VR technologies can be exploited from a sensorimotor and interactive perspective. The findings from this analysis suggest a significant emphasis on sensory stimulation to the detriment of interaction. Finally, we propose new ideas regarding the more successful integration of sensorimotor activities and interaction into VR exposure therapy for PTSD.
Highlights
Virtual reality (VR) technologies have been used in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since the end of the 1990s [1,2]
Due to the potential they offer to create an alternative reality, VR technologies remain a tool of choice for treating PTSD, as much in terms of scenario flexibility and parameterization as in terms of efficiency
From the primary definitions of VR technologies, their particularity lies in the possibility of transporting the user to a full-scale artificial world, allowing them to experience a new reality by interacting with that world [17,18,20]
Summary
Virtual reality (VR) technologies have been used in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since the end of the 1990s [1,2]. Patients can evaluate their progress more directly throughout the treatment while being observed by the therapist [13] This type of therapy can be practised privately and confidentially for those patients who prefer the discretion they are denied when exposed to real-life settings. Another benefit of such technologies in virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) could be the integration, in real time, of a virtual therapist in order to extend into the virtual world the concept of personal care in therapy [16]. Because exposure therapy works primarily through a learning mechanism [28], and successful and sustainable learning is intended to be active [29,30], we will propose several new ideas to better consider immersion, presence, and interaction in VRET for PTSD through sensorimotor activities
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