VR and phobias

I have arachnophobia (fear of spiders). I’ve been working on it because I know it doesn’t make sense, and I would like to travel to some locations with more significant spiders without being terrified all the time that I will run into a spider. Therefore, I’m always intrigued by discussions of ways to help people overcome their phobias. But, I’m also skeptical. What actually works?

One of the more recent trends is the use of virtual reality exposure therapy. Ferreira and colleagues (2025) conducted a literature review on the use of extended reality, which includes virtual reality, and phobia treatments. The majority of studies used virtual reality exposure therapy. This therapy is basically what it sounds like. It uses virtual reality to expose a person to their trigger(s) in order to decrease the intensity of the stress response to those situations. Arachnophobia was the most common phobia treated with 44.4% of people with a single phobia. (There were also people who underwent treatment for multiple phobias in the studies, which may include arachnophobia.)

The general gist of all the studies they reviewed is that the therapies did result in improvements in the participants’ phobias. Around 58% of results participants had significant reductions in their phobia symptoms. The results of the VR therapies were compared in some cases to real-life exposure and showed comparable results.

There are still quite a few unknowns. In this study, the authors were unable to draw any conclusions based on factors such as age or gender. Additionally, there are no standardized treatment protocols or training guidelines for using this type of technology. Clearly, more research is needed.

However, as someone who has already made progress with my own phobia and wants to make more, I’m interested in the possibilities for someone like me who maybe isn’t impacted by my fear at the same level as others. Could VR offer an approach to off-the-shelf treatment? My fear isn’t enough for me to be willing to pay someone for treatment (unless I magically get offered my dream job in a country with spiders that will trigger more intense fear). So, could I use this technology to help myself? And for people who do experience more debilitating fear, could this technology potentially help to speed up their treatment or make it more effective, perhaps in examples where you can’t easily recreate the scenarios in real life?

Would you be willing to don a VR headset to help you overcome your fears?