A fear of driving
Amaxophobia is a common anxiety disorder where sufferers have a fear of cars or a fear of driving in different situations. Many of our clients have asked us in recent months to develop a scenario which deals with this topic.
We were happy to comply with this wish. The result is a scenario that is the most extensive so far in terms of interaction possibilities. That is why we are dedicating a separate article to this scenario with video and image excerpts.
When your patient puts on the VR headset and you start the scenario on the computer, your patient is instantly in a car on the motorway. Before you start the scenario, you can already decide whether the journey should begin on a normal stretch of road, in a tunnel or in an area of roadworks. You can also change the scenario during the journey with just one click.
Your patient is by no means only a “passenger” on this drive, as would be the case in a video. Instead, he or she takes the wheel, can change lanes at any time and can also regulate the speed. Each drive can be experienced without a time limit.
With one click, you can trigger a slow moving car to appear in front of the patient – to confront overtaking. In doing so, your patient sets the indicator with his hand, looks in the rearview mirror and changes lanes. After overtaking, he or she is back in front of the overtaken vehicle.
Looking into the rearview mirror also makes sense here as you can see approaching cars in it. If you drive out into oncoming traffic, you will be faced with a concert of horns and flashing lights. That’s why your patient should turn the rearview mirror with his hand right at the beginning so that he/she has a clear view behind them.
Your patient is afraid that other drivers will make a mistake in the roadworks area? With one click, let the inconspicuously driving car suddenly change to the left lane and quickly drive back again. That was close!
Or is it about driving at night or in the rain, or both? With one click you create darkness, rain or a combination of both.
Sometimes the fear of traffic jams also plays a big role. The feeling of not being able to get away is very stressful for those affected. With a click, the number of cars increases, your patient automatically slows down until everyone is at a standstill and a traffic jam has formed. In this situation, you can let your patient stay as long as they want to. With one click, the traffic jam slowly eases up again.
With all these possibilities, such as adjusting mirrors, steering, indicating, changing lanes and much more, this virtual drive feelsvery realistic for your patients. In addition, thedate and time display are also on real time. Just like you can turn on the radio and hear a real live program from a station.
And with the different environmental features such as the weather, tunnels, road works, driving errors and congestion, you cover a wide spectrum of amaxophobiawith this scenario.
In addition, this scenario could also be used for agoraphobia and claustrophobia.
On the screen you see what your patient sees in the VR headset. Below that you have the various setting options. There is also a selection of other scenarios.
In this video you can see what the patient experiences directly in the VR headset. The movements are the patient’s natural head movements. He operates the various functions with his virtual hands.
