Virtual reality has also been used extensively to treat phobias (such as a fear of heights, flying and spiders) and post-traumatic stress disorder. This type of therapy has been shown to be effective in the academic setting, and several commercial entities now offer it to patients.
Although it was found that using standardized patients for such training was more realistic, the computer-based simulations afforded a number of advantages over the live training. Their objective was to increase exposure to life-like emergency situations to improve decision-making and performance and reduce psychological distress in a real health emergency.
