Technological contributions to psychotherapy: The potential of Virtual Reality

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) allows people to enter and interact with three-dimensional computer-generated environments. The ability to make the user feel that he is present in a fabricated situation makes it a tool with the potential to revolutionize psychotherapy. VR has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of disorders related to anxiety, stress, and eating behaviors, and has shown promising results in other areas as well. VR also enables the virtual embodiment of a person into an avatar, which offers many possibilities to recreate interactive situations or even to improve self-dialogue. Until recently, the focus of attention has been on the recreation of the external reality, but the representation of the internal reality might open a new frontier. EYME-Explore Your Meanings is a digital platform evolved from the repertory grid technique that uses VR for the exploration of personal identity. With it, therapists encourage their clients to become more self-aware and improve their self-knowledge, thus advancing the psychotherapeutic process in the context of both individual and group therapy. The use of VR also creates challenges that must be faced to verify its viability. More research is needed to gain an in-depth understanding of the impact VR can have on the prevention, assessment, and intervention in a great variety of situations and psychological disorders.