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psychology – New technologies that allow us to immerse ourselves in a world created from scratch are proving valuable in psychiatry.
Fear of driving, flying, being locked up… To treat all these phobias and many more, Dr. Eric Malbus, psychiatrist at Sainte-Marguerite Hospital (Marseille), suggests that his patients wear a virtual reality headset that confronts them, in a safe environment, with the object or situation that worries them.
Technology that allows a person to immerse himself in a digitally created artificial world, TERV (Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy) is today increasingly used to treat anxiety disorders but also addictions (tobacco, alcohol, gaming, etc.) or even eating disorders (TCA). “By exposing the patient to the temptation to smoke or drink alcohol, we work on the ‘craving’, that irrepressible need to consume the substance to which we are addicted, with gradual, prolonged and repeated exposure.” The doctor explains the author of the book Psychotherapy and Virtual Reality (With Rudolf Oppenheimer…
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