Controlled Exposure for Claustrophobics Using Cardboard Virtual Reality Headsets

Today, I am sharing my phobia and how I have significantly controlled it. I have claustrophobia. Claustrophobia is an intense fear of confined or enclosed spaces. People with claustrophobia feel extreme anxiety when they are in places where escape seems difficult or impossible. About 12.5% of the population have this fear, with the majority of them being women (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK542327/). That's 125 in one thousand people!!

To control it, I relied on a technique called controlled exposure. I wear Virtual Reality headsets made from cardboards that simulate enclosed spaces. When in an enclosed space, I put on my cardboard VR Headset and play a video of a large playground. When in a safe environment, I play videos of being in an enclosed space and cover my head with cardboard.

This project is beginner friendly.

1. Cardboard
2. Lenses.
3. Magnets
4. Hook and loop fastener
5. NFC tag (optional)
6. Rubber band
7. Instruction Manuals
8. Your smartphone
9. VR apps

Our VR Headset would be based on the Google Cardboard VR Headset.

Head over to https://developers.google.com/cardboard/manufacturers and download the cardboard arrangement instructions. They are updated frequently so you'll need to download the latest instructions.

Gather the components for the cardboard as listed in the instruction manual. These include:

1. Cardboard

2. Lenses

3. Magnets

4. Hook and loop fastener

5. Rubber band

6. NFC tag (optional)

Once you have completed the 2 steps above, then you are ready to build your VR Headset. You can follow the instruction manual or you can watch the youtube video above for a quick guide.

Once we have our cardboard VR headset ready, open youtube on your smartphone and visit this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnNAPbaAMqE&list=PLIn3JhTYuwI9CCUYAAKnrvNZ7J6pzpHEy . This will take you to a YouTube playlist of VR videos that simulate closed spaces. Watch each video from the first to the last video.

You can also download VR apps on your smartphone that can help with controlled exposure. A popular option is oVRcome (https://www.ovrcome.io/). Cheers!!

If you have completed the steps above, congratulations. Please let me know which steps you found difficult or if you need help. Cheers.