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How many times have we heard the sentence “the best way to overcome fears is to face them”? What if you could do it in safety? Would you dare?

Nowadays it is possible to face your fears, confronting them slowly and without risk, thanks to the work of psychology, wearables and virtual reality.

This innovative therapeutic approach uses portable virtual reality devices as a tool, with the goal of helping the patient to experience and face their fear, without leaving the office.

It is an experience where the user immerses himself in a specific situation, generating the same physical, psychological and emotional reactions that he would experience if this situation occurred in the real world. The “behavioral” part of the treatment is treated through an exposure technique, which means exposing the patient gradually and with a parallel learning of relaxation to the stimulus produced by discomfort. This treatment is indicated to treat psychological problems such as:

• Phobias

• Attention disorders

• Hyperactivity

• Obsessive and compulsive behavior

• Anxiety

• Addictions

• Insomnia

• Post traumatic stress

• Others

The therapy with wearables has started a whole revolution in the field of psychology, since it made great advantages and improvements for both patients and professionals. In an article for the magazine Hola, Raquel Fernández and Noelia Luna, psychologists from the Ishtar Psychologists center, describe it as “real breakthrough”. According to the same article, the company Virtual Bodyworks, promoted by the University of Barcelona, the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, and the August Pi i Sunyer Institute for Biomedical Research (associate with the Hospital Clínico de Barcelona) has been the first to apply virtual reality to behavioral rehabilitation; especially to improve empathy in abusers who have committed gender violence. There for, as its CEO Albert G. Zamora says: “it uses an immersive virtual reality so these men who have committed gender violence’s crimes can experience situations of verbal and psychological violence putting themselves in the shoes of the victims.”

Also, a study conducted by the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies and the University College London (UCL) affirms that treatment with portable devices and virtual reality can become the therapy of the future to treat problems like depression.

ADVANTAGES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT WITH PORTABLE VIRTUAL REALITY DEVICES:

• It is a safe and non-invasive technique.

• It allows to reduce the time of the therapies by improving the effectiveness.

• The scenarios are customizable, adjusting the values specifically for each patient.

• The therapist has full control during the exposure.

• Recording and measurement of physiological responses in real time through the biofeedback sensor.

• Obtaining complete reports after each session, by obtaining patient follow-up data during it.

• Increased patient motivation by the effectiveness and speed of treatments.

PSIOUS

It is the first virtual reality platform assigned for psychological treatment, currently it has the largest catalog of settings and scenes for sessions. It was developed by psychologists and it is based on over 20 scientific studies.