Virtual reality technology is not just for gamers.

Over the last decade, research into advanced virtual reality therapy techniques

has shown it to be effective for people with physical

and psychological disabilities. A psychologist at the forefront of this research tells us how

virtual reality is helping people literally face their fears and learn to overcome them. I'm Audrey

Hamilton and this is Speaking of Psychology. Skip Rizzo is the Director for Medical Virtual Reality at the Institute for Creative Technologies and

a research professor at the University of Southern California. He conducts research on the

design, development, and evaluation of virtual reality systems, focusing on clinical assessment,

treatment rehabilitation, and resilience. Welcome, Dr. Rizzo.

Hi. Thank you for having me here. Your work in developing

virtual reality therapies focuses on combining advancements in computer technology with psychological

science. How is virtual reality therapy being used in clinical settings right now? Right now,

the biggest use of virtual reality in clinical settings is probably an area of exposure therapy.

And that is probably because the technology is well matched to the needs of the clinical application.

We see with exposure therapy the goal really is about helping a patient, whether it's due to a simple phobia or PTSD, to engage, to confront,

and to process difficult traumatic memories. Now, in the traditional format, you typically do that

in imagination alone, but when you have a disorder where avoidance is one of the cardinal symptoms, sometimes

patients may need a little extra boost. So if we can put them in simulations that mimic or

resemble some of their traumatic experiences and do it in a gradual yet progressive hierarchical

fashion, then it really is well matched to what the need of the clinical

approach is.

Can you give us an example of how exposure therapy works and how the virtual reality therapy

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