Virtual reality in mental health: A review of the literature

Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol (2007) 42:343354 DOI 10.1007/s00127-007-0173-4

ORIGINAL PAPER

Lynsey Gregg Nicholas Tarrier

Virtual reality in mental health

A review of the literature

Accepted: 30 January 2007 / Published online: 12 March 2007

j Abstract Background Several virtual reality (VR) applications for the understanding, assessment and treatment of mental health problems have been developed in the last 10 years. The purpose of this review is to outline the current state of virtual reality research in the treatment of mental health problems. Methods PubMed and PsycINFO were searched for all articles containing the words virtual reality. In addition a manual search of the references contained in the papers resulting from this search was conducted and relevant periodicals were searched. Studies reporting the results of treatment utilizing VR in the mental health eld and involving at least one patient were identied. Results More than 50 studies using VR were identied, the majority of which were case studies. Seventeen employed a between groups design: 4 involved patients with fear of ying; 3 involved patients with fear of heights; 3 involved patients with social phobia/public speaking anxiety; 2 involved people with spider phobia; 2 involved patients with agoraphobia; 2 involved patients with body image disturbance and 1 involved obese patients. There are both advantages in terms of delivery and disadvantages in terms of side effects to using VR. Although virtual reality based therapy appears to be superior to no treatment the effectiveness of VR therapy over traditional therapeutic approaches is not supported by the research currently available.

Conclusions There is a lack of good quality research on the effectiveness of VR therapy. Before clinicians will be able to make effective use of this emerging technology greater emphasis must be placed on controlled trials with clinically identied populations.

j Key words virtual reality simulations exposure therapy mental health

Introduction

Virtual reality integrates real-time computer graphics, sounds and other sensory input to create a computer-generated world with which the user can interact. The virtual environment is presented not on a computer screen but through a head mounted display (HMD), typically either a helmet or goggles containing two small television screens along with stereo earphones. The user can explore and navigate in the virtual world by means of motion tracking devices...