Virtual reality could help treat sexual aversion and other sex-related disorders.
Fintech Women
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Virtual Reality
A boom in new technologies is revolutionizing the field of mental health in terms of understanding and treating mental disorders like phobias, eating disorders or psychosis. Among these innovations, virtual reality (VR) is a powerful tool that provides individuals with new learning experiences, increasing their psychological well-being.
Difficulties in experiencing sexuality with pleasure, whether solo or partnered, are at the heart of sexual aversion. Recovering from such difficulties involves changing one’s thoughts, reactions and behaviours in sexual and romantic situations by, for instance, gradually exposing oneself to apprehensive sexual contexts.
Recent findings suggest that VR could bring about such changes in real-life situations, particularly in individuals with poor sexual functioning or with a history of sexual trauma. Our own findings, not yet published, show that VR can help with intimacy-related fears and anxiety.
Immersive and realistic computer-generated worlds in VR could lead to positive sexual health outcomes such as increased pleasure and sexual well-being by alleviating psychological distress in sexual contexts.
Treatment for sexual aversion involves controlled, progressive and repeated exposure to anxiety-provoking sexual contexts. These exposures aim to gradually reduce fear and sexual avoidance, two common reactions to sexual cues in sexually aversive individuals.
With this objective in mind, VR offers an ideal and ethical medium for intervention, as simulations can be tailored to different levels of sexual explicitness and be repeatedly experienced, even for sexual contexts that would be impossible or unsafe to recreate in real life or in therapy settings.
For instance, situations commonly feared by individuals with sexual aversion, such as sexual assault, failure or rejection, or feeling trapped in a sexual encounter, do not actually happen in VR. VR would not only allow them to overcome fears, but also to learn new sexual skills to use in real-world situations — skills that would otherwise be difficult, if not impossible, to develop. Individuals in treatment could then apply these learnings to real-world intimate situations.
In December 2020, we collected data that allowed us to compare sexually aversive and non-aversive individuals. Participants were immersed in a virtual environment simulating a typical intimate interaction, which involved a fictional character engaging in sexual behaviours throughout six scenes. Throughout the scenes, participants were gradually exposed to the character’s flirting, nudity, masturbation and orgasm. Our findings suggest VR could represent a promising avenue for treating sexual aversion.
Sexually aversive and avoidant individuals reported more disgust and anxiety than non-aversive participants in response to the simulation. And the more the scenes were sexually explicit, the higher the participants’ levels of disgust and anxiety. These results suggest that the virtual environment adequately replicated real-life contexts that would typically induce sexual aversion.