A Study on the development of psychotherapy contents using Unity3D

Abstract

Virtual reality is the future-oriented field in the current IT content area, and the area of virtual reality is expanding not only in entertainment fields, but also education and architecture. In this paper, we development prototype of psychological treatment content using Unity3D engine. We experimented and analyzed the possibility of virtual reality as psychotherapy. After analyzing virtual reality elements that can be connected to the psychotherapy system, we derived effective therapy factors. Virtual reality is a form of content that has a strong sense of immersion and presence than any other content. Currently, the entertainment industry is the most developed field in virtual reality, but in the near future, virtual reality will become the main content as a psychotherapy system. In this study, we researched VR contents related to psychotherapy, and extracted the elements of VR that are effective in psychotherapy. We developed virtual reality content that can help treat stage fright using Unity3D. The Unity3d engine is an effective and optimized program for creating VR contents. We developed and tested prototype for specific patients. As a result of making and experimenting with a prototype of psychotherapy content that can treat stage fright step by step, we found a possibility that the treatment effect is higher than that of general treatment. This study is a preliminary study for VR psychotherapy research to be produced in the future, and will show the possibility of VR as psychotherapy content.