Dealing with a Panic Attack: a Virtual Reality Training Module for Postgraduate Psychology Students

Abstract

In this paper we present a virtual reality training simulator for postgraduate psychology students. This simulator features an interaction between a clinical psychologist (student) and a patient (virtual agent) suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Our simulation focuses on the form of OCD treatment called “Exposure Therapy”. The traditional way of learning how to perform Exposure Therapy (ET) currently involves watching video recordings and discussing those in the class. In our simulation we conduct an immersive exposure therapy session in VR. This session involves a live interaction with a patient that at one stage triggers a panic attack. Our hypothesis is that the immersive nature of the training session will affect the decision making process of the students so that they are more likely to cease the exposure task than those student participating in a less immersive form of learning (watching a video recording). We also hypothesise that participating in an immersive VR training session is more effective than watching videos, as far as information retention goes.