Statusvortrag im Promotionsver­fahren von Herrn Florian Schier

Abstract: 
Exposure therapy, the gold standard for treating anxiety disorders in psychotherapeutic practice, faces a number of implementation barriers, limiting in-practice use. Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) has shown similar efficacy - yet its adoption into clinical practice remains far behind its promised (research-backed) potential.

My research focusses on how co-located Multi-User Mixed Reality (MU-MR) may overcome some of VRET's challenges, and what such a system requires to address practicing therapists' needs.
The proposed shared approach allows therapists to accompany patients in the virtual world, facilitating a closer resemblance to in vivo exposure therapy, leveraging the therapeutic alliance instead of impeding it through (albeit virtual) separation. 
Mixed Reality, on the other hand, enables therapists to selectively add virtual stimuli into their real office spaces, or transition to virtual environments entirely. This flexibility allows therapists to choose between synthetic or real environments, and to vary exposure scenarios depending on their patients' needs.

This research explores the technical feasibility of co-located MU-MR using consumer-grade standalone HMDs, investigates therapists' perceptions of and perspectives on VRET, and identifies specific tools needed by therapists in this asymmetric collaborative setting. By addressing these areas of research, this work aims to support therapists in their work, reduce barriers that currently limit the adoption of technology-assisted exposure therapy, and, ultimately, improve access to a variation of the gold standard treatment for patients.