Overcoming Self-Critical Attitudes in Virtual Reality
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Overcoming Self-Critical Attitudes in Virtual Reality Through Compassion and Embodiment Processes.
IRAS ID
139563
Contact name
Chris R. Brewin
Contact email
Research summary
Excessive self-criticism is one of the most significant psychological processes thought to influence the susceptibility to and the maintenance and relapse of mental health problems. Self-compassion can be seen as a natural modulator of self-criticism. In light of this, new therapies have been developed to teach healthy and mentally ill people to be more compassionate to themselves. Despite the success of compassion based therapies there are some individuals that find the therapy difficult to master, particularly those who lack positive compassionate experiences from which to draw upon. To tackle this problem we aim to overcome self-critical attitudes by simulating self-compassion through the use of avatars in a state of the art, virtual reality laboratory at UCL.
Self-critical depressed patients will be assigned an avatar in a fully immersive virtual reality environment. Patients will be able to control this avatar through the use of a special virtual reality suit. After some information about compassion participants will be required to comfort a crying child avatar by talking to them. Once the participant has delivered their compassionate response their avatar will switch to that of the child. From this position they will see and hear a replay of their compassionate response coming from their original avatar. This switch of avatars is to simulate self-compassion, whereby they receive first hand experience of their own compassion. This experience will provide them with a means of conceptualizing self-compassion as synonymous with compassion for others, which will hopefully help self-compassion be incorporated into their everyday lives. After the virtual reality session we will assess the influence of the procedure on mood and self-criticism by means of self-report questionnaires. This procedure will be repeated three times over the course of three weeks with follow-up questionnaires four weeks after the final virtual reality session, to assess the sustainability of positive effects.
REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0119
Date of REC Opinion
12 Mar 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion