Broome, Matthew R., Zányi, Eva, Hamborg, Thomas, Selmanovic, Elmedin, Czanner, Silvester, Birchwood, M. J., Chalmers, Alan and Singh, Swaran P. (2013) A high-fidelity virtual environment for the study of paranoia. Schizophrenia Research and Treatment, Volume 2013 . Article number 538185. doi:10.1155/2013/538185 ISSN 2090-2085.

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Abstract

Psychotic disorders carry social and economic costs for sufferers and society. Recent evidence highlights the risk posed by urban upbringing and social deprivation in the genesis of paranoia and psychosis. Evidence based psychological interventions are often not offered because of a lack of therapists. Virtual reality (VR) environments have been used to treat mental health problems. VR may be a way of understanding the aetiological processes in psychosis and increasing psychotherapeutic resources for its treatment. We developed a high-fidelity virtual reality scenario of an urban street scene to test the hypothesis that virtual urban exposure is able to generate paranoia to a comparable or greater extent than scenarios using indoor scenes. Participants (η = 32) entered the VR scenario for four minutes, after which time their degree of paranoid ideation was assessed. We demonstrated that the virtual reality scenario was able to elicit paranoia in a nonclinical, healthy group and that an urban scene was more likely to lead to higher levels of paranoia than a virtual indoor environment. We suggest that this study offers evidence to support the role of exposure to factors in the urban environment in the genesis and maintenance of psychotic experiences and symptoms. The realistic high-fidelity street scene scenario may offer a useful tool for therapists.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences > Mental Health and Wellbeing Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Engineering > WMG (Formerly the Warwick Manufacturing Group)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Psychoses , Paranoia, Virtual reality
Journal or Publication Title:	Schizophrenia Research and Treatment
Publisher:	Hindawi Publishing Corporation
ISSN:	2090-2085
Official Date:	2013
Volume:	Volume 2013
Page Range:	Article number 538185
DOI:	10.1155/2013/538185
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access (Creative Commons)
Funder:	University of Warwick, National Institute for Health Research (Great Britain) (NIHR)

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