In exposure therapy a phobic is very slowly exposed to what they are afraid of. The goal is to try and make the phobic stay calm and eventually have no reaction to their phobia. This is all done under the supervision of a therapist to ensure that the patient stays safe. Virtual reality exposure is meant to be put the phobic in contact with their phobia without being directly there. When the patients are put in contact with their phobia they have anxiety; however, their anxiety will settle as they stop sweating and have a slower heartbeat. As the patients are exposed to their phobias they slowly get less anxious the more they are exposed. Through virtual reality psychologists can help people who are too scared to come in contact with their phobia. This done by creating a virtual world in which the phobic is exposed to their fears instead of doing it in vivo, in life, therapy. Hunter Hoffman, a member of the Human Interface Technology Lab research group, has treated over twenty phobics with virtual reality therapy and has a success rate of eighty five percent. This means that eighty five percent of those who were treated with virtual reality exposure therapy will never have problems with their phobias again
In exposure therapy a phobic is very slowly exposed to what they are afraid of. The goal is to try and make the phobic stay calm and eventually have no reaction to their phobia. This is all done under the supervision of a therapist to ensure that the patient stays safe. Virtual reality exposure is meant to be put the phobic in contact with their phobia without being directly there. When the patients are put in contact with their phobia they have anxiety; however, their anxiety will settle as they stop sweating and have a slower heartbeat. As the patients are exposed to their phobias they slowly get less anxious the more they are exposed. Through virtual reality psychologists can help people who are too scared to come in contact with their phobia. This done by creating a virtual world in which the phobic is exposed to their fears instead of doing it in vivo, in life, therapy. Hunter Hoffman, a member of the Human Interface Technology Lab research group, has treated over twenty phobics with virtual reality therapy and has a success rate of eighty five percent. This means that eighty five percent of those who were treated with virtual reality exposure therapy will never have problems with their phobias again