A virtual reality dialogue system for the treatment of social phobia

Submitted by Willem-Paul Brinkman on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 08:24

People with social phobia have a severe fear of everyday social situations. In this paper we describe a virtual reality exposure therapy system specifically designed to expose patients with social phobia to various social situations. Patients can engage in a free speech dialogue with avatars while being monitored by a therapist. To control phobic stressors, therapists can control the avatar’s gaze, the avatar’s dialogue style and the narrative stories that are embedded throughout the exposure. The system uses the Delft remote virtual reality exposure therapy platform, which allows remote treatment.

Brinkman, W.P., Hartanto, D., Kang, N., de Vliegher, D., Kampmann, I.L., Morina, N., Emmelkamp, P.M.G., Neerincx, M.A. (2012) A virtual reality dialogue system for the treatment of social phobia, CHI'12: CHI'12 extended abstracts on human factors in computing systems, p. 1099-1102. pdf video

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Research conducted at Delft Mental Health Computing Lab focuses on computer support systems for understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and for mental coaching to promote health, well-being and the prevention of illness. It is positioned at the intersection between computer science (including human computer interaction), clinical and health psychology.

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A virtual reality dialogue system for the treatment of social phobia

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