Face Your Needle Phobia with Virtual Reality

When I think about virtual reality, my mind goes straight towards entertainment – like videogames and fun experiences.

However, I’ve been learning about how VR is adaptable and lends itself practical usage, specifically in the medical field for people with phobias or social anxieties.

People who have trypanophobia, or fear of needles and injections, are the target of some of these most recent VR experiences. This is a worthy exploration since trypanophobia, or just general needle anxiety, could hinder certain people from getting the COVID-19 vaccination.

Patient uses The Distraction app and VR headset to visit a beach scene during injection

OVRcome Your Fears

In June of 2021, a company called OVrcome (New Zealand) created The Distraction app, which syncs up with VR systems to help patients overcome phobias and social anxieties. It's based around how exposure therapy works.

It can even be used as just a distraction for people who don’t have severe trypanophobia, but still have nerves around injections. The example used in the video showed a serene beach scene while a man was getting an injection.

He stated that he could “barely tell” that it was even happening and would highly recommend the app and VR experience.

Get Prepared

The Vita Health Group, a private UK healthcare provider, has a National Health Service (NHS) treatment plan which involves sending VR goggles (free) to a patient suffering from trypanophobia via their therapist.

Then, there’s a 45-minute assessment to discuss the treatment plan and phobia. The patient will receive three 60-minute sessions using the VR headset to simulate a medical atmosphere where the vaccination will take place.

This version of VR exposure therapy differs from the first because the patient does the VR experience at home in preparation for their injection, rather than during the visit.

Both of these experiences were created with the COVID-19 vaccination in mind. They could also work really well for young children for other kinds of small procedures as well as injections.

User Experience is Everywhere

This summer I am working in a PCP office at the front desk, which is partially why this became a topic of interest. I also had bouts of needle anxieties growing up and would have benefited from something like this.

Even though the medical field is not my chosen career path, this is still relevant to me as it shows how VR design and user experience is relevant in all fields – and not just entertainment.