Phobias Spiders clinical trials

Bringing Exposure Therapy to Real-Life Context With Augmented Reality

In this patented project, U.S. Patent No. 10,839,707, the investigators will develop an augmented reality exposure therapy method for arachnophobia, and fear of snakes, to test in the clinic. The platform will include a software that allows the clinician (psychiatrist/therapist) to position virtual objects in the real environment of the patient with the above mentioned phobias while the patient is wearing the augmented reality (AR) device. Then the clinician will lead the patient through steps of exposure therapy to the fear objects. The investigators will then measure the impact of treatment and compare to before treatment measures of fear of the phobic object. Exposure therapy is the most evidence-based treatment for specific phobias, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The core principle is patient's exposure to the feared objects/situations guided by a clinician. For example, in arachnophobia, patient is exposed to pictures of spiders printed or on a computer screen- or if available, view of a real tarantula in the office. Gradually, patient tolerates viewing/approaching the spider from a closer distance, and fear response extinguishes. The clinician has a crucial role in signaling safety to the patient, as well as providing support and coaching. This treatment is limited by multiple factors: 1) limited access to feared objects/situations in the clinic, 2) even when feared objects are available, they are not diverse (e.g. different types and colors of spiders), which limits generalization of safety learning, 3) when available, clinician has very limited control over behaviors of the feared objects (e.g. spider/snake), 4) safety learning is limited to the clinic office context, and contextualization of safety learning to real life experiences is left to the patient to do alone, which often does not happen. This is specifically important in conditions such as PTSD, where there is cumulative evidence for impaired contextualization as a key neurobiological underpinning. 5) Lack of geographical access to experts in exposure therapy, especially for PTSD, in rural areas.