Immersive Exposure Therapy Study

Researchers wanted to investigate the effectiveness of a new immersive virtual-reality (VR) exposure therapy programme on the symptoms of patients with severe arachnophobia (fear of spiders).

Before starting the programme, participants were placed in a controlled testing room containing a harmless house spider inside a sealed glass terrarium. After completing a six-week course of the VR exposure therapy, the participants returned to the same testing room for a post-therapy assessment.

The researchers recorded two metrics during both the pre-therapy and post-therapy assessments:

• Physiological arousal was measured using wireless chest-strap heart rate monitors to record the peak heart rate (in beats per minute) of each participant while in the room.
• Avoidance behaviour was measured by tracking the minimum distance (in centimetres) a participant was willing to stand from the spider's terrarium.