Next Generation Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy Systems - A Study exploring Design Implications

Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is becoming increasingly established, but existing VR systems are expensive and designed for researchers, not for routine psychotherapeutic services. Therefore, the existing systems do not take the needs of the prospective users - psychotherapists and patients - into account. The recent breakthrough in VR technology offers new opportunities for the design of VRET-systems especially for outpatient settings. This project examined the current practice of exposure therapy. Therefore, we conducted an online-questionnaire (N=58 responses) as first phase. In the second phase, we observed therapy sessions, reviewed literature and interviewed psychotherapists. Therefore, we could deduce implications to design state-of-the-art VRET systems. In this paper, we focus on general implications that are not system- or scenario-specific.