valor

Development of a system to support therapies for anxiety disorders

The heart is pounding, the breath is coming in gasps and the body is covered with sweat – fear is an emotion we feel in many daily situations. It leads us through various dangers of life. For some people, however, this feeling exaggerates. They feel these symptoms constantly in their everyday lives, often without a reason. Then we can speak of an anxiety disorder.

Confrontation therapy is a suitable method for the affected to face their fears. But even though this form of therapy is the most effective for anxiety disorders like phobias, many therapists don’t apply this form of treatment because of the difficulties it can bring.

Valor is a system developed to modernize the confrontation therapy and face the current challenges of this form of treatment and the psychotherapy itself. The system consists of a VR-headset, optimized for therapy, and a wearable with modular biofeedback sensors. Through the headset the patient is able to confront themselves with their fear and the wearable measures the symptoms and changes the virtual confrontation fitting to the patients’ current measurements. The associated software allows the psychotherapist to get an overview of the therapy, as well as the ability to change the cycle of the treatment.