Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for the Treatment of Darkness Phobia

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy is a common treatment for phobia and the efficacy of this technique has proved. The darkness phobia is one of the most common disorders among the children. This is the first research about the darkness phobia and using VR to treat the patients. The VR system designed in this article is composed from two parts: Mechatronic devices and graphics unit. As a child spends most of his/her time at home, the home environment was simulated in the graphics unit. Also by using the mechatronic devices the head motions of the patients were applied to the graphics unit to close more the VR system to the reality. The treatment was conducted two sessions per week over three months. The results showed that the VR graded exposure therapy was successful for reducing fear of the darkness in children. In addition, the feedbacks of interacting with system from the patients were too satisfactory