A personalized virtual reality experience for relaxation therapy

Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to change not only to the way we consume and perceive entertainment but also to improve other important areas of society. One sector that is starting to benefit from the advantages of VR is the treatment of stress related mental illnesses. VR is able to bring relaxation therapy to the next level in which solutions can be scalable (without the need for real-time dedicated professionals) and personalized. This paper presents VRelax, a personalized VR relaxation therapy approach. By means of semantic methodologies and online learning techniques, VRelax provides a personalized, relaxing virtual environment to the user

Immersive Composition for Sensory Rehabilitation: 3D Visualisation, Surround Sound, and Synthesised Music to Provoke Catharsis and Healing

There is a wide range of sensory therapies using sound, music and visual stimuli. Some focus on soothing or distracting stimuli such as natural sounds or classical music as analgesic, while other approaches emphasize the active performance of producing music as therapy. This paper proposes an immersive multi-sensory Exposure Therapy for people suffering from anxiety disorders, based on a rich, detailed surround-soundscape. This soundscape is composed to include the users’ own idiosyncratic anxiety triggers as a form of habituation, and to provoke psychological catharsis, as a non-verbal, visceral and enveloping exposure. To accurately pinpoint the most effective sounds and to optimally compose the soundscape we will monitor the participants’ physiological responses such as electroencephalography, respiration, electromyography, and heart rate during exposure. We hypothesize that such physiologically optimized sensory landscapes will aid the development of future immersive therapies for various psychological conditions, Sound is a major trigger of anxiety, and auditory hypersensitivity is an extremely problematic symptom. Exposure to stress-inducing sounds can free anxiety sufferers from entrenched avoidance behaviors, teaching physiological coping strategies and encouraging resolution of the psychological issues agitated by the sound

User-Centered Virtual Reality for Promoting Relaxation: An Innovative Approach

[EN] Virtual reality has been used effectively to promote relaxation and reduce stress. It is possible to find two main approaches to achieve such aims across the literature. The first one is focused on genetic environments filled with relaxing "narratives" to induce control over one's own body and physiological response, while the second one engages the user in virtual reality-mediated activities to empower his/her own abilities to regulate emotion. The scope of the present contribution is to extend the discourse on VR use to promote relaxation, by proposing a third approach. This would be based on VR with personalized content, based on user research to identify important life events. As a second step, distinctive features of such events may be rendered with symbols, activities or other virtual environments contents. According to literature, it is possible that such an approach would obtain more sophisticated and long-lasting relaxation in users. 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The Power of Odor Persuasion: The Incorporation of Olfactory Cues in Virtual Environments for Personalized Relaxation

Olfaction is the most ancient sense and is directly connected with emotional areas in the brain. It gives rise to perception linked to emotion both in everyday life and in memory-recall activities. Despite its emotional primacy in perception and its role in sampling the real physical world, olfaction is rarely used in clinical psychological settings because it relies on stimuli that are difficult to deliver. However, recent developments in virtual-reality tools are creating novel possibilities for the engagement of the sense of smell in this field. In this article, we present the relevant features of olfaction for relaxation purposes and then discuss possible future applications of involving olfaction in virtual-reality interventions for relaxation. We also discuss clinical applications, the potential of new tools, and current obstacles and limitations

The use of relaxation techniques in a personalized virtual environment

This bibliographic research addresses the innovative approach to relaxation that introduces the use of personalized virtual reality in the relaxing process. It is conceptualized as a critical integration of literature that considers the subject. Research is divided into three chapters. First of all, it defines virtual reality and its properties, with particular attention being given to the “sense of presence” as it is one of the key characteristics of virtual reality that make it a special form of human experience. Furthermore, this chapter takes perspective on virtual reality showing to be a successful technology in different areas of research, with the accent on its usefulness in clinical psychology. In the second chapter, research defines the concept of relaxation and continues with discussing relaxation techniques with particular attention being given to progressive muscle relaxation and body scan’s use in medical, and more specifically, psychological settings. Final chapter introduces the concept of personalization. In the end, it finally integrates literature that highlights the importance of the personalized virtual reality in relaxation practice, but also criticizes current studies defining possible directions for the future advances of the concept

Personalized, Naturalistic Virtual Reality Scenarios Coupled With Web-Based Progressive Muscle Relaxation Training for the General Population: Protocol for a Proof-of-Principle Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Virtual reality (VR) is an innovative tool that can facilitate exposure to either stressful or relaxing stimuli and enables individuals who have difficulties visualizing scenes to be involved in a more realistic sensorimotor experience. It also facilitates multisensory stimulation, a sense of presence, and achievement of relaxation. VR scenarios representing visual and auditory elements of natural relaxing environments can facilitate the learning of relaxation techniques such as the progressive muscle relaxation technique (PMRT). A complementary standardized technique deployed to reduce anxiety symptoms is the integration of PMRT and guided imagery (GI). Exposure to a pleasant imaginary environment helps the establishment of an association between a relaxing scenario and the relaxation technique, consequently promoting relaxation. Empirical evidence has shown that VR scenarios can increase the effects of relaxation techniques by enabling people to experience emotional conditions in more vivid settings. Objective: The main aim of this pilot study protocol is to investigate the impact on state anxiety of PMRT, associated with a personalized relaxing scenario in VR, and the role of VR scenarios in facilitating the recall of relaxing images and a sense of presence. A secondary aim is to understand if relaxing sessions administered via Zoom are more effective for managing anxiety and stress than a procedural setting based on audio-track guidance. Methods: Based on a longitudinal, between-subject design, 108 university students will be randomly exposed to one of three experimental conditions: (1) PMRT via Zoom and GI exposure, (2) PMRT via Zoom and personalized VR exposure, and (3) PMRT based on audio-track guidance and personalized VR exposure. Individuals are assessed before and after 7 training sessions based on self-report questionnaires investigating anxiety, depression, quality of life, coping strategies, sense of presence, engagement, and side effects related to VR exposure. Heart rate data are also detected by an Mi Band 2 sensor. Results: The experimental procedure is ongoing. In this paper, preliminary data from a sample of 40 participants will be illustrated. The experimental phase is expected to conclude in May 2023, and the final results of the research will be presented in June 2023. Conclusions: The results of this study will help shape the experimental design to apply it on a subsequent randomized controlled trial, also considering clinical samples. This work is expected to measure whether VR is a more engaging and helpful technique in promoting relaxation and decreasing anxiety levels than GI, by making the visualization process easier and by helping people to face more realistic sensory experiences. Assessing the efficacy of the PMRT in alternative delivery modes may extend its applications, especially in situations where the standard procedure is more challenging to be administered. To our knowledge, no equivalent study has been published so far on this matter. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05478941; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05478941. International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/44183

Development of a Multimodal, Personalized Intervention of Virtual Reality Integrated Within Physiotherapy for Patients With Complex Chronic Low-Back Pain

Background: Chronic low-back pain (CLBP) is the leading cause of years lived with disability. Physiotherapy is the most common treatment option for CLBP, but effects are often unsatisfactory. Virtual reality (VR) offers possibilities to enhance the effectiveness of physiotherapy treatment. Primary aim was to develop and test a personalized VR intervention integrated within a physiotherapy treatment for patients with CLBP.Methods: This study describes an intervention development process using mixed methods design that followed the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework. This involved a cocreation process with patients, physiotherapists, and researchers. A draft intervention was constructed based on a literature review and focus groups, and subsequently tested in a feasibility study and evaluated in focus groups. Focus group data were analyzed using thematic analysis. This intervention development process resulted in a final intervention.Results: Focus group data showed that VR and physiotherapy can strengthen each other when they are well integrated, and that VR needs to be administered under the right conditions including flawless technology, physiotherapists with sufficient affinity and training, and the right expectations from patients. The draft intervention was considered feasible after evaluation by four patients and three physiotherapists and was further complemented by expanding the training for physiotherapists and improving the protocols for physiotherapists and patients. The final intervention consisted of a 12-week physiotherapy treatment with three integrated VR modules: pain education, physical exercise, and relaxation.Conclusion: Using the MRC framework in cocreation with the end users, a personalized VR intervention integrated within a physiotherapy treatment for patients with CLBP was developed. This intervention was found to be feasible and will subsequently be evaluated for (cost-)effectiveness in a cluster randomized controlled trial

A serious VR game for acrophobia therapy in an urban environment

Much of the costs and dangers of exposure therapy in phobia treatment can be removed through virtual reality (VR). Exposing people to heights, for instance, might sound easy, but it still involves time and money investments to reach a tall building, mountain or bridge. People suffering from milder forms of acrophobia might not even be treated at all, the cost not being worth it. This paper presents a prototype that allows exposure therapy to be done in a controlled environment, in a more comfortable, quick and cheaper way. By applying acrophobia questionnaires, collecting biophysical data and developing a virtual reality game, we can expose volunteers to heights and analyze if there is any change in their fear and anxiety levels. This way, regardless of the initial anxiety level and phobia severity, we can check if there is any post-therapy improvement and verify if virtual reality is a viable alternative to real-world exposure