Specific phobia:

A specific phobia is characterized by a very intense, irrational fear. A fear becomes a phobia when a person suffers severe distress and the fear becomes intense enough to interfere with daily life. Phobias can involve animals (dogs, cats, snakes, spiders, etc.), the environment (water, heights, thunderstorms), blood and injections (needles hospitals and surgery), situations (bridges, tunnels, driving a car, enclosed spaces) and other phenomena (fear of vomiting). Fear is a normal reaction, but it becomes a problem when it interferes with our daily life. Heres is the main phobias that can be treated with virtual reality scenarios:

 

• Fear of flying

• Fear of public speaking

• Spiders, snakes

• Cats, dogs

• Heights, enclosed spaces

• Driving

• injections or blood

 

Social anxiety and fear of public speaking:

Social anxiety is related to situations where our performance is evaluated. People who suffer from it are constantly afraid of being judged negatively, ridiculed or rejected by others. The often also have difficulty in maintaining direct eye contact with others. Some people are afraid of public speaking, oral presentations, meetings or speeches. In these situations, the person feels unpleasant sensations such as shaking, blushing, stammering, etc. with fear of public speaking. In Virtuo team uses virtual reality to gradually expose patient to social situations where performance, negative judgement and ridicule car targeted. Children from 6-12 years can also be treated for school related aniety and fear of public speaking with our virtual classroom.

 

 

In Virtuo team uses virtual reality to recreate social situations or audiences where children and adults can learn to control their anxiety in social situations.

 

 

Panic disorder and agoraphobia (PDA):

Panic disorder is characterized by the presence of physical sensations (e.g. palpitations, chest pain, trembling, sweating, etc.), also called spontaneous panic attacks, which occur rapidly for no apparent reason. The fear is usually associated with sensations of imminent catastrophe (fear of dying, losing control, fainting, etc.). A person suffering from panic attacks often tends to fear and avoid places or situations for fear of having a panic attack (also called agoraphobia). Women are affected twice as often as men and up to 3.5% of the population suffers from it at some point in their life.

 

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD):

People suffering from this disorder are always worried about several things such as family, children, money, health, the future, work, etc. These people start to worry and then realize that they have a great deal of difficulty in mastering their worries and stopping thinking about them. They keep going over negative scenarios and become agitated, irritable and tense. They may also suffer from insomnia. Research also shows that these persons have great difficulty tolerating uncertainty and may worry about being late for an appointment, having a car accident, etc. In Virtuo team uses virtual reality to gradually expose patients to main worry themes such as health, incertainty, etc.

 

 

Other related disorders (former anxiety disorders)

 

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD):

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is defined by the presence of intrusive and obsessive thoughts that violate a person’s values (e.g. thought of hurting someone when you don’t really want to hurt anyone) and/or compulsive behaviors or repetitive mental acts which reduce the anxiety related to the obsession (e.g. cleaning the house for hours, checking several times whether the burners on the stove are turned off, excessive hand-washing). The most common themes of obsessive thoughts are contamination (catching or spreading germs), doubts about certain actions (having locked the door), religion (having committed a sin), the fear of being violent toward someone (pushing a person in front of a car), etc. In virtuo team uses virtual reality in treatment of all main OCD themes.

 

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD):

Post-traumatic stress disorder occurs after a tragic event where a person’s life was in danger, or after witnessing a catastrophic situation. Such events may be, for example, a physical or sexual assault, an automobile accident, a natural catastrophe, etc. The person will tend to relive the event frequently (flashbacks), have recurring nightmares and feel in a state of constant vigilance (for example, easily startled, irritability, physical tension, etc.) and avoid situations that are reminders of the traumatic event. In virtuo team offers treatment for various types of PTSD and uses virtual reality for trauma related to sexual assault and car accidents.

 

 

Cliniques & Développement In Virtuo has equipment and softwares to recreate situations often avoided by people suffering from anxiety