Immersive virtual reality platform for self-attachment therapy
File(s)
Author(s)
Ghaznavi, Syed Ibrahim
Type
Thesis
Abstract
We have designed, developed, and tested an immersive virtual reality (VR) platform to practise protocols of the Self-attachment psychotherapy for treatment of depression and anxiety. The VR platform consists of both a high-end version based on Facebook’s Oculus and a low-end mobile version based on Google’s cardboard.
Under the Self-attachment therapeutic framework, the causes of mental disorders are traced back to the individual's insecure attachment with their primary caregiver during childhood. Self-attachment offers a self-administrable protocol in which the user imaginatively creates an internal affectional bond with their childhood self, based on mental imagery, and then simulates optimal parent-child interactions to re-parent the childhood self to emotional maturity, thus earning themselves secure attachment.
The platform offers a complementary visual tool for administering Self-attachment protocols; it enables the user to interact with their customised photorealistic childhood avatar (childhood self). The platform is developed in Unity 3D, a cross-platform game engine, and takes advantage of the itSeez3D Avatar SDK for generating a customised photorealistic 3D avatar head from a 2D childhood image of the user. The platform also offers facial and body animations for some of the basic emotions such as happy, sad, scared and joyful and it allows modifications to the avatar body and clothing colour.
A pilot study to compare the use of the avatar-based approach (VR) to Self-attachment with the conventional photo based approach showed promising results. More than 85% of the participants reported that their photorealistic childhood avatar in VR, in both the high-end version and the low-end version, was more relatable than their ordinary childhood photo. Participants also reported that the high-end version of the VR platform was more realistic and immersive than the low-end mobile version.
Under the Self-attachment therapeutic framework, the causes of mental disorders are traced back to the individual's insecure attachment with their primary caregiver during childhood. Self-attachment offers a self-administrable protocol in which the user imaginatively creates an internal affectional bond with their childhood self, based on mental imagery, and then simulates optimal parent-child interactions to re-parent the childhood self to emotional maturity, thus earning themselves secure attachment.
The platform offers a complementary visual tool for administering Self-attachment protocols; it enables the user to interact with their customised photorealistic childhood avatar (childhood self). The platform is developed in Unity 3D, a cross-platform game engine, and takes advantage of the itSeez3D Avatar SDK for generating a customised photorealistic 3D avatar head from a 2D childhood image of the user. The platform also offers facial and body animations for some of the basic emotions such as happy, sad, scared and joyful and it allows modifications to the avatar body and clothing colour.
A pilot study to compare the use of the avatar-based approach (VR) to Self-attachment with the conventional photo based approach showed promising results. More than 85% of the participants reported that their photorealistic childhood avatar in VR, in both the high-end version and the low-end version, was more relatable than their ordinary childhood photo. Participants also reported that the high-end version of the VR platform was more realistic and immersive than the low-end mobile version.
Version
Open Access
Date Issued
2020-09
Date Awarded
2021-02
Copyright Statement
Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial Licence
License URL
Advisor
Edalat, Abbas
Nicholls, Dasha
Publisher Department
Computing
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Doctoral
Qualification Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)