Virtual training to overcome anxiety

Around 350.000 Danes suffer from anxiety and according to a report published by the Danish Health Authority last year, the number of children and adolescents diagnosed with anxiety or depression has tripled over the last ten years. The number has risen from 2354 to 7189.

But now, researchers are providing new possibilities for Danes struggling with anxiety.

The patients are to practice the anxiety-inducing situations in a safe environment by wearing a VR headset.

- The amazing part of virtual reality is that we can control the situation and adjust the degree of difficulty. It is like a VR video game made for patients with anxiety, Gunver Majgaard from SDU Embodied Systems for Robotics and Learning says.

She is an expert in mixed reality design and will be creating the VR scenes for the patients.

- If riding the bus is a trigger, we can start out with a virtual scenario where the bus is empty. As the heart rate of the patient stabilizes, we can add more passengers to the bus.

VR headset and heart rate monitor

In addition to the VR headset, the patients will get a heart rate monitor so the therapist can measure their anxiety level.

To adjust the challenge to the individual patient, the therapist can use the heart rate monitor to evaluate if more passengers can get on the bus, or if some need to get off.

- We can also use the virtual room to show the patients useful coping strategies. If their pulse is too high, we can remind them – in the game – that they can regain control by counting the brown shoes in the bus, Gunver Majgaard points out.

Helps the body to remember

Anxiety costs the Danish society approximately $1.2 billion every year. The money is primarily used for early retirement benefits. According to a report from 2015 by the Danish Health Authority, anxiety is by far the biggest reason for early retirement benefits.

- It is scientifically proven that patients benefit from going through the situations that trigger their anxiety. It helps their body remember that the situation is not dangerous.

-But it is very expensive to bring your therapist to these situations, so by creating some typical scenarios for the patients to go through, we can help a lot of patients.

The next step for the researches is to cooperate with a group of anxiety patients to identify around 10 typical scenarios that the patients fear. Grocery shopping is another example besides riding a bus.