This ability is facilitated by technological advancements such as virtual reality. Powers and Emmelkamp (2008) suggest that, exposure treatment can be combined with visual reality which can be considered as a form of art treatment since virtual reality is based on “real-time computer graphics”. According to Hacmun, Regev, and Salomon (2018), VR’s application in art therapy has the potential of facilitating treatment of anxiety by mimicking a real-life experience through its creative medium. The study notes that the focus on the sensory and motor signals indicative of the real world gives the patient the illusion that the experience is real, which can effectively enhance a sense of presence. This feeling can allow the individual to adequately communicate their feelings and conquer the causes of anxiety through the application of three-dimensional painting, dynamic scaling, as well as embodied expression (Hacmun, Regev, and Salomon, 2018).
This aspect is due to the fact that VR allows the expansion of the artistic medium to more advanced and realistic options (Ying-Chun and Chweng-Liang, 2018). Additionally, the therapists who use virtual reality for exposure therapy can artificially create a number of experiences they want to observe patients undergoing. This gives the opportunity to the therapists to make valid observations on the reaction of patients since it is like they actually relive the experience as it was. The use of virtual reality can also ease patients’ anxiety and promote their wellbeing, who may not be able to calmly handle their current situation.