Embodying Compassion: A Virtual Reality Paradigm for Overcoming Excessive Self-Criticism

Caroline J. Falconer, Mel Slater, Aitor Rovira, John A. King, Paul Gilbert, Angus Antley, Chris Brewin,

2014

The study team recruited healthy female volunteers who tended to be critical toward themselves and used virtual reality to help them practise self-compassion. The volunteers put on a headset and entered a virtual environment in which they met a distressed child. They offered support to the child, and then swapped places and heard their own compassionate response played back to them. After this virtual reality experience, the volunteers were less critical and more compassionate toward themselves. They also felt safer in their day-to-day lives. This shows that virtual reality has potential to help people with their mental health.

Embodying Self-Compassion within Virtual Reality and its Effects on Patients with Depression

Caroline J. Falconer, Aitor Rovira, John A. King, Paul Gilbert, Angus Antley, Pasco Fearon, Neil Ralph, Mel Slater, Chris Brewin, 2016

The study team recruited 15 people with depression and used virtual reality to help them practise self-compassion. Each person put on a headset and entered a virtual environment in which they met a distressed child. They offered support to the child, and then swapped places and heard their own compassionate response played back to them. They repeated this experience three times. Afterwards, these people's depression symptoms had improved. They were also less critical and more compassionate toward themselves. This was still the case four weeks after the virtual reality experience. This suggests that virtual reality can help people with depression to feel better.