You are in a quiet room: the Gear VR is mounted firmly over your eyes; you are temporarily dissociated from reality and immersed in a whole new world. Using the latest Galaxy smartphones as the source and engine, you are transported into worlds beyond your wildest imagination, enveloping you in an experience like no other technology has enabled before.
Using technology to create environments and stimuli as close to reality without having to physically involve an individual has presented unique opportunities in clinical and developmental psychology – cognitive -behavioral therapy in particular. VR has been used all over the world to treat post-traumatic stress, anxiety, addictions and pain. Over the course of the program, such exposure therapy can be adapted to compel the brain to block fear signals in the absence of an actual threat.
Samsung has put the technology in the hands of more people. Ever-increasing smartphone penetration and the affordability of the Gear VR has made VR accessible to a wider audience, including psychologists. The technology is made particularly compelling due to its ability to stimulate panic symptoms when confronted with the cause of the phobia, all without endangering the individual. Instead of a therapist just speaking through a traumatic situation, VR is allowing both the therapist and the individual to experience the scenario together. Those who suffer from a fear of heights, acrophobia or related anxiety can be put on top of high bridges or at the precipice of a tall mountain. By a process of extinction learning[1] patients lose that form of irrational fear.
Samsung ran a tailored VR program titled ‘BeFearless’ campaign in markets including Germany, Austria, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and the United Arab Emirates. The four-week long BeFearless VR training program, backed by the Yonsei University Gangnam Severance Hospital in South Korea, registered nearly 90 per cent in helping people reduce their anxiety of public speaking and heights.
Among the 27 candidates is UAE-based Muhammad Ummer, a 20 year old aeronautical engineering student with dreams to soar as a pilot. He not only conquered his anxiety of heights but also celebrated his achievement by traversing a giddying 558-metres on a zipline suspended 50m above the ground, connecting a skyscraper on Emaar Boulevard, winding over the dazzling Dubai Fountain.
With sheer determination, the support of close friends, and Samsung’s technology, Muhammad has overcome his anxiety, also becoming a social media star of sorts. His updates through the program have been viewed and shared over Samsung’s pages several thousand times. Applying next month to be among the next batch of pilot trainees, Muhammad said, “To everyone who has any fear, not just fear of heights, the whole fear concept is just in your mind. If you have to do something, if you have a goal, you can conquer and overcome your fear easily. With the right support, you can build your confidence.”