VR is good for something other than video games and porn – New York Post

Alex Woods blood and needle phobia went from being a source of anxiety to life-threatening after he contracted pre-diabetes in college.

With skyrocketing blood sugar and hypoglycemia levels, Wood was forced to confront his bloodcurdling phobia, sitting through what he describes as constant blood tests.

[Blood and needles] are definitely something that I find extremely uncomfortable. Its exacerbated by when I had really serious problems with my blood sugar and hypoglycemia levels as a university student. They used to say look around the corner, look whos here and Id turn around and theyd jab the needle in quickly. They tried every trick possible to try and get me through it, Wood says.

For those afraid of blood and needles, fainting, dizziness and avoiding doctor appointments are all too common. Wood says that while the blood tests saved his life, helping him beat his pre-diabetes, they also exacerbated his phobia.

As a London-based tech journalist, Wood was drawn to virtual reality as a quick and easy means to overcome his phobia. Like exposure therapy, virtual reality therapy means gradually exposing a patient to what they fear.

But instead of having to confront your fears face-to-face, you can do it with just a psychologist and a VR headset.

In Woods virtual reality therapy session he watched 360-degree videos of scenarios that would normally induce anxiety. The psychologist taught him relaxation techniques to deal with his phobia and measured his pulse and heart rate. Increasing with intensity with each session, the videos first showed Wood sitting in a doctors waiting room something that he finds extremely stressful. Later he was shown videos of himself getting injections and blood tests.

Before virtual reality therapy, Wood couldnt stand watching gory horror films and hospital dramas. But after just one session he describes the therapy as game-changing, making an astounding difference to his phobia.

Blood and needle phobias arent the only phobia capable of being treated by virtual reality. The possibilities are endless, with VR treatments ranging from fears of flying to medical and animal phobias and even treating fears of cotton balls and garden gnomes. Currently, in Australia, about one in 10 people have a phobia. In the United States, around 23 million people have a phobia roughly the size of Australias population.

A phobia differs from a regular fear as it encompasses a change in behavior, including avoiding the phobic situation, says Brenda Wiederhold, a psychologist at the Virtual Reality Medical Center in California. Virtual reality in recent years has become an increasingly popular alternative to hypnosis and traditional therapy. Wiederhold says that in her clinic VR therapy has a 92 percent success rate and on average patients take 10 sessions to cure their fears.

Wiederhold emphasizes that these phobias can be extremely debilitating for patients, intruding upon the normalcy of their everyday lives. This includes costing them jobs and sometimes even forcing them to move home.

Instead of having to confront your fears face-to-face, you can do it with just a psychologist and a VR headset.

Virtual reality therapy has slowly but surely made its way to Australian shores. Currently, Sydney Phobia Clinic is the only clinic in Australia offering virtual reality therapy. This city-based clinic is where Kevin McAuley conquered his needle phobia.

Like Wood, the 32-year-old entrepreneur had suffered an intense fear of needles from a young age, but with a vague idea of how his fear had come about. Through therapy sessions and using virtual reality, McAuley is now able to get injections and blood tests, something that he had once avoided at all costs.

Before therapy, even people talking about injections or blood tests, I would literally have to say stop. Anytime I would go to the doctor and get an injection Id faint. I would feel sick, dizzy and hot and then next thing Id be lying on the floor and people would be waking me up, McAuley says.

McAuleys phobia came to a head when he started a new job and one of his first clients was Red Cross Blood Donations a nightmarish situation for someone with a needle phobia.

As soon as they said it I just knew I couldnt handle it. My mind ran away with itself and just the thought of it, I ended up fainting on the first day of the job, McAuley says.

Needle and blood phobias have this element that other phobias dont have, where you faint, like a fight-or-flight response. All the blood is leaving your head so that you can run away but were not on African plains, theres not a lion and your body recalibrates, he says.

One benefit of VR is that it enables patients to practice the relaxation techniques theyve learned in therapy before facing a real-world phobic scenario. In real-life exposure therapy, McAuley and Wood may have canceled dozens of doctors appointments due to intense fear. But with virtual reality, they were able to gain confidence through practicing with a psychologist and a VR headset.

And with the advent of VR, psychologists are curing phobias that were previously impossible to treat with exposure therapy. This is because, as Wiederhold explains, some phobic situations are difficult for psychologists to recreate, such as a fear of heights, storms, or flying. But even so, a hefty price tag stands in the way of VR therapy becoming common use for medical professionals and consumers.

Currently, researchers around the country are working hard to reverse the high expenses of VR technology. One researcher at the University of New South Wales Jill Newby is developing technology to make VR more affordable, at the cost of just a $15 headset.

One of the things Im working on is using virtual reality but in a really cheap, accessible way. I have taken 360 degree photos, where I can go into a free app on my phone and view the photo using a virtual headset. This headset only costs $15, so its really cheap. Anyone could use this in their own homes to help them overcome their fears, Newby says.

And in the end, helping people with life-threatening phobias overcome their fears is what makes the job worthwhile for psychologists like Newby and Wiederhold.

I get postcards from people who are going on a flight, or going to a graduation they didnt think they could attend. One gentleman had a fear of driving around cliffs and he went on a holiday in Italy with his wife after he did the treatment. Its very rewarding to have peoples lives changed by these things, Wiederhold says.

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VR is good for something other than video games and porn - New York Post