Interactive virtual environments for behavioral therapy

We use interactive virtual environments for cognitive behavioral therapy. Working together with children therapists and psychologists, our computer graphics group developed 5 interactive simulators for the treatment of fears and behavior disorders. The simulators run in real time on P4 PCs with graphic accelerators, but also work online using streaming techniques and Web VR engines. The construction of the simulators starts with ideas and situations proposed by the psychologists, these ideas are then developed by graphic designers and finally implemented in 3D virtual worlds by our group. We present the methodology we follow to turn the psychologists ideas and then the graphic designer´s sketches into fully interactive simulators. Our methodology starts with a graphic modeler to build the geometry of the virtual worlds, the models are then exported to a dedicated OpenGL VR engine that can interface with any VR peripheral. Alternatively, the models can be exported to a Web VR engine. The simulators are cost efficient since they require not much more than the PC and the graphics card. We have found that both the therapists and the children that use the simulators find this technology very attractive.