Playing Games with Painful Memories:Designing VR Exposure Therapy Simulations for PTSD

Abstract

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy is currently being examined in several contexts as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorders. Going through therapy for PTSD is decidedly not a game, and exposure therapy typically involves highly structured graded exposure treatment therapy protocols. The Virtual World Designers, for whom worldbuilding is usually much more of an art than a science, need some research and therapy savvy design guidelines. This paper explores a few ideas in this vein, drawing from the PTSD therapy literature, video game development technology, and virtual reality theory. In particular one concept originally from the field of robotics, Masahiro Mori’s Uncanny Valley, is extended in its possible application as a useful metaphor for designing virtual environments for PTSD Exposure therapy.
Ari Hollander

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