Brian Neville, Ph.D., Seattle Psycholgist: Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Exposure to the triggers with cause people to react with panic and fear helps the brain to relearn to remain calm in their presense. Exposure to the actual triggers, however, can be overwhelming or difficult to arrange. Advances in computer technology have allowed for the creation of virtual exposure, which is much easier for many people to tolerate. Virtual reality exposure therapy uses computer-created virtual environments to provide gradual exposure to feared situations. Clients are first taught strategies to increase relaxation, then to apply these strategies to help remain calm in the face of gradually increasing levels of virtual exposure to the situations while in the comfort of my office. I have programs for confronting fears of heights, flying, thunderstorms, spiders, and public speaking. Programs for other fears are being developed all the time, so contact me if there is a specific fear you would like to confront using virtual reality.

For a short video interview of someone who was treated with VRET for fear of flying, click here.

For more information, go to www.VirtuallyBetter.com