ing virtual reality therapy to treat people suffering from acrophobia. Stover (1995) explains that in a recent study, the researchers treated ten students whose answers on a questionnaire indicated a problematic fear of heights. At seven weekly sessions, the students used virtual Treating Acrophobia 5 reality equipment to experience the views from foot bridges suspended above water, balconies overlooking the university campus, and a glass elevator in a 49-story hotel lobby. After seven weeks the students had gained significant confidence compared with another group of acrophobic students who received no treatment (p 1).The approach taken by Rothbaum is very similar to that of which Stover explained. Rothbaum (1995) screens four hundred seventy-eight college students for acrophobia. Twenty students who showed substantial fear and avoidance of heights were chosen. Of these twenty students, twelve would take the therapy and eight would be on the waiting list without therapy. According to Rothbaum (1995) three footbridges, four out door balconies, and one glass elevator were all used in the virtual reality sceneries. Both researchers basically described the same approach for there experimentation. They took a group of students and subdued them to the virtual reality therapy. Both groups were treated for seven weeks using very similar circumstances, such as simulations of elevators, balconies, and bridges all in virtual reality. One last note was that both had some students who were not treated by the virtual reality therapy, for future comparisons with those who were treated. Stover (1995) states that after seven weeks, the students had gained significant confidence compared with another group of acrophobic students who received no treatment. According to Rothbaum (1995), in this controlled study of the application of virtual reality to the treatment of a psychological...
