Fear of Heights-How to Overcome Using Gear VR 2016

In today's video I'm going to help you overcome your fear of heights using the gear VR.

Hi this is Jay Andrews from Reviews Across the Board and today we're going to take a look at a VR app which is aimed at people who struggle with acrophobia. Acrophobia of course is the intense and irrational fear of heights. It's something that's experienced by five to ten percent of the American population or 15 to 30 million people. Not everybody experiences this anxiety disorder the same way. For some people it's jitters and nervousness and avoiding things like elevators, not going on the ferris wheel, not going on a ski lift…and for other people something like a ferris wheel can be absolutely terrifying or even the thought of being somewhere high can produce panic attacks and other debilitating conditions which can greatly impact the person's school life, work life and personal life.

So for those who have high level acrophobia the best option is to seek treatment from a mental health professional but for those who have mild to moderate symptoms, Samsung has an app in the oculus store on the gear VR which guides users through a progressive graded exposure experience. This means that each successive level is more challenging than the previous one. The app is called ‘Be Fearless’ let's check it out. As we open to the main menu we're presented with a bunch of different scenarios: the elevator, we have a cliff driving, we have the helicopter as well as the skywalk. So why don't we begin with the elevator.

[VR software voice]. You are about to take the elevator and stop by several floors. First floor doors are closing.

So as you can see we're on the first floor right now and the elevator is going up on the outside of the building slowly revealing view of the city. Okay so now the system wants to know how you're feeling: not nervous, a little nervous very nervous. We're going to check a little nervous, we're going to confirm it wants to know if we want to move to the next level and keep going… so let's move to the hard level.

[VR software voice] 24th floor [VR software voice] 44th floor. Wow you have mastered this height let's go to the next level. You can look down. Very good.

At the end of each level you can access an evaluation report to see how you scored. Okay let's move on to the medium level of cliff driving. [VR software voice] Look at the river below you. As you can see we're driving along at cliffside road peering down at a river canyon and although I don't have a fear of heights I can tell you this looks very realistic. Let's move on to the medium level of the helicopter scene.

[VR software voice] You are inside a helicopter going up to the mountains, hang tight.

Okay now in this next level of graded exposure your comfort level with heights is really put to the test as you are hanging out of a helicopter as it flies over what looks like the Rocky Mountains. Let's get ready to take a look at the final level of this virtual reality training.

[VR software voice] Take a deep breath you are about to walk in the sky. Look below you look down.

We are now on a Sky Deck of the CN tower in Toronto, Canada. It happens to be the world's sixth tallest freestanding structure.

Okay so that was a brief overview of the be fearless app so if you're someonethat struggles with the fear of heights the Samsung gear VR could be a good option for you if you have one of thefollowing phones: the Samsung galaxy s7 edge, s6, s6 edge+, or the note 5. I put a link in the description down below so you guys can check it out on Amazon. if you enjoy this video and found it to be useful why not hit that like button down below also I'd like to know what you guys think about the use of virtual reality to treat phobias and finally if you know someone with acrophobia why not share this video with them maybe you can help them overcome their fear of heights.