Watch: Virtual Reality Technology Can Both Heal And Promote Fear

The virtual reality industry has been booming over the past couple of years, with sectors like video games and movies creating their own VR headsets, peripherals, and programs. Now, the medical industry is also getting in on the action with VR systems that are meant to help people get over their phobias.

Using different VR programs, one of the breakthroughs in this sector allows doctors to create different simulations that correspond to the specific phobia that each patient has, Stuff reports. One example includes being strapped to a chair while the masked dentist leans over with the fine dental drill to conduct a tooth filling with.

The simulation triggers the particular neurological responses that are interpreted as fear without actually exposing the patient to the dangers that the real-life counterpart of the simulation would impose. The simulation can actually be applied to various other phobias, including those that involve a variety of insects and animals, situations, and even imaginary scenarios.

One of the places that specialize in this particular technique is the Sydney Phobia Clinic in Sydney, Australia. Pieter Rossouw is the manager of the clinic and he says that this method produces a more vivid stimulation compared to traditional techniques, which involved therapists asking patients to merely imagine scenarios.

"In the past the way that therapists would do therapy is they would get someone to imagine they were in the scenario. Here we can really bring that situation to life," Rossouw said. "If you put on that headset, you're a patient sitting in the dentist chair, and the dentist is coming at you with the drill. And you can hear the noise. Everyone always pulls their head back."

Tim Suzman had the same idea when he created an app that is also meant to help people with their phobias, CNN reports. The app is called Fearless and it’s currently out for the Oculus Rift. The idea is simply to gradually expose the users to the things they fear most until they become used to it and get over their fear.