Can VR treat fears and phobias? - 6 Minute English

Hello.

This is 6 Minute

English from BBC Learning

English.

I'm Rob.

And I'm Sam.

Here at 6

Minute English, we love

to chat about new

technology.

One of our

favourite topics is VR

or virtual reality, and

the ways it's shaping

life in the future.

VR allows you to put

on a headset and escape

into a completely

different world.

In this

programme, we'll be

hearing about some of

the ways VR is tackling

serious problems like

domestic violence, and

helping people overcome

phobias - the strong

and irrational fear of

something.

And, of course,

we'll be learning some

useful related vocabulary

along the way.

People who use VR often

describe the experience

as intense.

Putting on

the headset makes you

feel you're really

there, in whatever new

world you've chosen.

And it's this intensity

that inventors,

scientists and therapists

are using to help people

overcome their problems.

We'll hear more soon,

but first I have a

question for you, Sam.

One of the phobias VR

can help with is the

fear of heights - but

what is the proper

name for this

psychological disorder?

Is the fear of heights

called: a) alektorophobia?

b) arachnophobia?

or

c) acrophobia?

I'll say a) alektorophobia.

OK, Sam.

We'll find out

the answer at the

end of the programme.

Now, if like me, you're

not very good with

heights, you'll be

happy to know that

a company called Oxford

VR has designed a

system to help with

precisely that problem.

In the safety of your

own home, you put

on a headset and

are guided through

a series of tasks

moving you higher

and higher off

the ground.

You

start by taking an

elevator to the

top floor of tall

building and move

on harder challenges,

like climbing a rope.

Daniel Freeman is a

professor of clinical

psychology at Oxford

University.

Listen as

he explains how the

VR experience works to

BBC World Service

programme, People

Fixing the World.

Even though you're

consciously aware it's

a simulation, it

doesn't stop all your

habitual reactions to

heights happening, and

that's really important,

and that's why it's got

such a potential to be

therapeutic.

The art

of successful therapy,

and what you can do

really, really well

in VR, is enable

someone to drop

those defences, and

in VR a person is

more able to drop

them because they

know there's no

real height there.

Although the VR

experience seems

real, the person

using it knows it's

only a simulation -

a pretend copy of

the real thing.

This gives them

confidence to go

higher, knowing they

can't really get hurt.

But although it's

simulated, the

experience is real

enough to trick your

mind into acting

in its habitual way -

the way it usually,

typically works.

Although your brain

knows you have both

feet on the ground,

VR is so realistic

that to complete the

tasks you have to

drop your defences,

a phrase meaning to

relax and trust people

by lowering the

psychological barriers

you have built to

protect yourself.

Oxford VR's 'Fear of

Heights' experience

uses VR to put people

into another world,

but the next project

we'll hear about

takes things even

further - putting

people into someone

else's body.

In Barcelona, a VR

simulation is being

used in prisons to make

men convicted of

domestic violence aware

of what it feels like

to be in the position

of their victims.

The project, called

'virtual embodiment', is

led by neuroscientist,

Mavi Sanchez-Vives, of

Barcelona's Institute

for Biomedical Research.

In a virtual world we

can be someone different

and have a first-person

embodied perspective

from the point-of-view,

for example, of a

different person,

different gender,

different age.

One can

go through different

situations and have

the experience from

this totally

novel perspective.

Many of the prisoners

lack empathy for their

victims.

'Virtual

embodiment' works by

giving these men the

experience of abuse in

the first-person - from

the perspective of

someone who actually

experiences an event

in person.

In VR, the men have

the insults and abuse

they gave to others

turned back on them.

It's a novel - a new

and original - experience

for them, and not a

pleasant one either.

But the VR therapy

seems to be working,

and Dr Sanchez-Vives

reports more and

more of the prisoners

successfully

reintegrating into

their communities after

their release

from prison.

The experience VR

creates of seeing

things from someone

else's point-of-view can

be therapeutic, even

for serious problems.

And speaking of

problems, what was

the answer to your

question, Rob?

I asked Sam whether

the correct name

for the fear of

heights was

alektorophobia,

arachnophobia, or

acrophobia?

I guessed it

was alektorophobia.

Which was the wrong

answer.

Alektorophobia

is the fear of chickens!

The correct answer was

c) acrophobia - a fear

of heights, and a good

example of a phobia.

Let's recap the rest

of the vocabulary we've

learned, starting with

simulation - a pretend

copy of something that

looks real but is not.

Habitual describes the

usual, typical way

something works.

The phrase 'drop your

defences' means to

relax and trust

something by lowering

your psychological

barriers.

In the first-person means

talking about something

from the perspective

of the person who

actually experienced

an event themselves.

And finally, the

adjective novel means

completely new and

original, unlike anything

that has happened before.

Well, once again, our

six minutes are really -

and virtually - over!

Goodbye for now!

Bye!