Researchers at the University of Basel have developed an app for smartphones that uses virtual reality to reduce fear of heights. They tested these in a clinical trial to examine its effectiveness. Test participants who trained for a total of four hours at home showed an improvement in their ability to deal with real-world situations.
How to overcome fear of heights through virtual reality
Fear of heights is a widespread phenomenon. Approximately 5% of the general population experiences debilitating discomfort in such environments. However, those affected rarely take advantage of available treatment options, such as exposure therapy, in which the person is placed in an anxiety-provoking situation under the guidance of a professional. On the one hand, people are hesitant to face their fear of heights. On the other hand, it can be difficult to reproduce the correct situations in a therapy setting. This motivated an interdisciplinary research team to develop a therapy called Easyheights for cell phones. The app uses 360° images of real locations that the team captured with a drone. People can use the app on their own smartphone along with a special virtual reality headset. During thevirtual experienceThe user stands on a platform that is initially one meter above the ground.
After a while, the platform will automatically rise. The perceived distance above the ground increases slowly but steadily without increasing the person's anxiety level. The research team examined the effectiveness of this approach in a randomized, controlled trial. 50 test participants with a fear of heights completed four hours of altitude training using virtual reality or were assigned to a control group. The new thing is that smartphones can be used to create the virtual scenarios that previously required technically complicated treatment. The study results suggest that repeated use of an app can significantly improve behavior and subjective state of well-being when people are afraid of heights. People who suffer from a mild fear of heights will soon be able to download the free app and complete training courses themselves. The authorsthis studyHowever, we recommend that people who suffer from serious fear of heights only use the app under the supervision of a professional.
