VR for Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia

Virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy has been shown to be successful in treating many types of specific phobias which are mostly visual in nature. However, limited research has been completed on the use of VR therapy for Blood Injection-Injury (BII) phobias, one of the subtypes of Specific Phobia listed in the DSM-IV TR. Since BII phobia may operate by some tactile component, it may respond differently to VR therapy compared to other categories of specific phobias that are largely visually activated. This paper discusses initial development and results from a study on both subjective and objective arousal elicited by a prototype virtual world which has been developed to treat those with BII phobia. The present study evaluated the responses of 20 healthy, non-phobic male and female participants to VR blood and injection stimuli. Initial results are positive and show that the VR world delivers appropriate cues to elicit physiological and self-reported arousal when exposed to the injection scenarios. Correlations between self-reported anxiety and physiological arousal confirm that individuals experiencing greater symptoms of fear in conditions involving blood or injections will exhibit more intense arousal from the virtual stimuli than those who experience reduced symptoms. Findings suggest that the virtual world is an effective method of cue exposure for individuals who experience anxiety in situations related to blood and injections. Future research on the use of VR exposure therapy in the treatment of BII phobia is warranted.