Virtual Reality Essay

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Virtual Reality: Therapeutic success in a virtual world Laura Computer Literacy March 14, 2011 Table of Contents Introduction …………………………………………………………………. 3 Therapeutic success in a virtual world………………………………………. 3 Virtual reality for treating phobias…………………………………………….3 Fear of spiders………………………………………………………….…3, 4, 5 Fear of flying and public speaking…………………………………….……… 5 Virtual reality for treating Psychological disorders.....................................…...6 PTSD………………………………………………………………………6, 7, 8 Virtual reality used for hypnosis………………………………………8, 9, 10, 11 Conclusion………………………………………………………...…………… 11 References……………………………………………………..……………12, 13 Virtual Reality: Therapeutic success in a virtual world Virtual reality allows you to step into computer-simulated environments that resemble places in the real world, as well as in the imaginary world. The latest virtual reality environments are mostly visual experiences created through a head mounted display but some include additional sensory information through sound over speakers or headphones. Virtual reality consists of environments that provide virtual presence of the users where they feel as if they are present in a location other than their true location. The user has a real time sensation of being in a place other than where they actually exist and can interact with the environment which may be real or virtual, or even both (Grady, 2003). Virtual reality is popular in video games but since the 1990’s the use of virtual reality has been taken past video games and advanced to fields of aviation, business, and medicine. It is important to understand the potential uses for virtual reality. There is great success in virtual reality used for therapeutic purposes where it is applied to various forms of exposure therapies for phobias, psychological disorders, and hypnosis. Exposure to a subject of

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