Virtual Reality As Treatment for Fear of Flying: A Review of Recent Research‪.‬

Virtual Reality (VR) has recently become an excellent means for conducting exposure therapy (Krijn, Emmelkamp, Olafsson, & Biemond, 2004). VR has been most extensively used and received the most empirical attention in the treatment of specific phobia: Fear of Flying, or flying phobia. Flying phobia is classified as the experience of an unreasonable and intense amount of anxiety when confronted with flying. As a result, flying is avoided or endured with intense anxiety such that it impedes on daily functioning, such as trips for business or visiting social contacts (Mogotsi, Kaminer, & Stein, 2000). Flying phobia is one of the more common forms of psychopathology with estimated prevalence rates falling from 10 to 40% for the population (Curtis, Magee, Eaton, Wittchen, & Kessler, 1998; Van Gerwen, Spinhoven, Diekstra, & Van Dyck, 2002). Of those with the disorder that are able to fly, approximately 20% are use substances such as alcohol or sedatives to endure the fear (Howard, Murphy, & Clarke, 1983). There are several excellent cognitive behavioral approaches that are frequently used to treat the fear of flying, many of which include exposure (Rothbaum et al., 2006). Exposure involves presenting the feared stimulus in such a manner that the client's fear will habituate. Habituation is a significant reduction in the amount anxiety that is experienced when confronting the feared stimulus. This is obtained through repeatedly presenting the stimulus for a prolonged period of time in a controlled manner (Foa & Kozak, 1986). In exposure therapy, the stimulus can be presented in a variety of forms, with the most common being the presentation of the actual stimulus, called in vivo exposure (Linden, 1981). Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy