Sense of Presence in Virtual Reality Exposures Therapy

Abstract

Virtual Reality Exposure is already considered as a valid technique in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It is an interesting approach to the question of Presence in Virtual Reality. The Sense of Presence (feeling of being in the Virtual Environment) is a complex mental mechanism that, as we expose here, is strongly linked to our emotional reasoning abilities. What we verify in our experiments is the importance of the psychological vulnerability of the patient and the strong impact of symbols in the perception of a virtual world. Psychiatric diagnostic and patient's reactions during exposure could also be considered as important elements in the evaluation of the Sense of presence