Augmented Reality Guidance Objects for Exposure Therapy Generalization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional exposure therapies for anxiety disorders and PTSD are limited by their context-dependent nature, often taking place in controlled environments that do not effectively translate to real-life situations, leading to impaired effectiveness due to the lack of association with actual environments where fears occur.
Innovation Solution
An augmented reality system that projects specific guidance objects, such as holographic images and sounds, onto real-time environments, allowing patients to experience feared cues in real-world settings while being remotely guided by a clinician via telepsychiatry, enhancing the generalization of safety learning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional exposure therapy is conducted in a controlled clinician's office environment, then the therapy can be guided systematically by a clinician, but the therapy lacks effectiveness in generalizing safety learning to actual real-world environments where fears occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a mobile device with camera and display as an intermediary tool to capture and present real-world environments during therapy sessions. The camera captures actual environments where the patient experiences fear, and the display presents these captured images or videos back to the patient during therapy, serving as a mediator between the real-world trigger and the therapeutic processing
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates visual copies of real-world environments by capturing images and videos with the device camera. These copies are then presented on the device display during therapy sessions, allowing the patient to revisit and process fearful situations in a controlled manner while maintaining the authenticity of the original environmental context
2Ease of operation
If virtual reality therapy uses entirely computer-generated environments, then the therapy can provide controlled exposure to feared situations, but the patient fails to associate virtual environments with actual real-world environments, reducing therapy effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using entirely virtual environments, the system captures actual real-world environments with the device camera and presents these authentic visual copies on the display. This approach maintains the authenticity and real-world association of the environments while still providing the controlled presentation and repetition necessary for therapeutic exposure
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device serves multiple functions: it acts as a camera to capture real-world environments, a display to present these environments during therapy, and a processing tool for the clinician to guide the patient through systematic exposure. This multi-functionality allows the same device to both capture authentic environments and provide controlled therapeutic presentation
3Loss of time
If trauma narratives are used in traditional therapy, then the patient can discuss memories repeatedly, but the therapy lacks an actual environment that facilitates effective safety learning
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces abstract narrative discussion with concrete visual copies of actual environments captured by the device camera. Instead of the patient describing traumatic environments verbally, the captured images or videos provide direct visual representation of the actual environments, making the therapeutic process more immersive and effective
Solution Approach 2:
The captured visual images serve as an intermediary between the patient's traumatic memories and the therapeutic processing. Rather than relying solely on verbal narrative, the visual copies of actual environments provide a concrete mediator that facilitates safer and more effective confrontation of traumatic experiences
Data Source
AI summary
An exemplary system may include an augmented reality device with a user interface, a processor and memory having a program communicatively connected to the processor. A transceiver may be communicatively connected to a practitioner device for real-time practitioner guidance. The system may include a plurality of sensors and a feedback device in communication with the processor. The system may display initial and updated guidance objects in a real-time environment of the user and in response to sensor outputs of the plurality of sensors. The feedback device may provide at least one of audio, visual, and tactile feedback in response to the sensors outputs. The system may condition the user to provide a desired reaction by guiding the real-time user reactions in the real-time environment using the feedback in response to the sensor outputs.