Virtual Therapy for Phobias:A Human Computer Interaction

Abstract

A specific phobia is a common anxiety problem that can be effectively treated with a variety of therapies such as exposure therapy and cognitive therapy. Exposure therapy is one of the most well-known approaches for treating a specific phobia. The purpose of exposure therapy is to allow the target patient to be exposed to the source of anxiety or its context without placing them in danger. Virtual reality exposure therapy is one potential study area. Interconnecting with AI, Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming more popular as a treatment option for many phobias. Virtual environments are used to simulate varying levels of anxiety in users. While being monitored by a therapist, users can navigate and interact with avatars and items in these environments. To do this, a virtual world is created with Unity and Blender 3D and then integrated into the Oculus quest virtual reality glasses. Patients will be taken to - house-like or building sets and progressively exposed to insects, heights, water, and darkness while progressively nearing them with no real risk or further exposure to trauma through the Oculus quest. This will be made as realistic as possible to make the patient feel more at ease while also assisting them in adjusting to their concerns in environments where these phobias are more common. Also, a hardware unit was introduced to monitor the heart rate sensor which is interfaced with ESP8266. Our solution gives the therapy to the patients who undergo Nyctophobia, Acrophobia, Entomophobia, and Aquaphobia.