Aviophobia handicaps many patients in their professional or personal activities. Virtual reality displays an effectiveness estimated at 80%, with benefits that are maintained more than a year after treatment, according to Dr. Eric Malbos, psychiatrist. C2Care offers immersive environments dedicated to the airport and the plane to accompany your patients at every stage of the journey.
Exposure to the airport and the plane can help the aviophobic patient gradually confront their fear. Organizing this type of exposure outside the office, however, remains difficult to implement.
Booking a flight, going there or repeating the experience at will involves constraints of time, cost and availability that the practitioner cannot control. The progression from one step to the next, from check-in to landing, is also difficult to adjust in a real-world context.
Virtual reality makes it possible to recreate the airport and the plane directly in the office, in a controlled and reproducible environment.
The C2Care environments allow you to recreate each stage of the plane journey and gradually integrate them during the sessions. The patient can thus go from security check to boarding, then to the flight itself.
In the plane, he may be confronted with takeoff, turbulence or different weather conditions, until landing. The practitioner adjusts the intensity of these situations and their sequence according to the patient's progress.
These repeated exposures make it possible to work with the patient on anticipatory anxiety, as well as on catastrophic thoughts and automatisms associated with flying.
VRET
The practitioner seats the patient on a swivel chair and fits them with the virtual reality headset
Using the control interface, the practitioner selects the environment suited to the session's goals and starts the exposure.
During immersion, the practitioner supports the patient using a visual feed and can adjust the exposure scene in real time
Environments
Each stage of the plane journey can be reproduced in virtual reality and personalized according to the situation to be addressed.
The journey begins in the terminal, with the steps and atmosphere of an airport.
The patient walks through the boarding gate and gradually gets on the plane.
Takeoff, flight and light or severe turbulence can be worked on separately.
Landing and exiting the plane constitute the final stages of the journey.
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Solène Montègue
Neuropsychiatrist
The developments C2Care is currently integrating into the interface are very promising and meet the established therapeutic objectives [...]: offering tailored exercises that can be adapted to levels of dependency, cognitive disorders, and patients' real-time responses.
Samia Lahya
Psychiatrist
With the acquisition of new equipment [...] and updates to the C2Care programs, its use has expanded even further: OCD, phobias, addictions, anxiety disorders, depression, and PTSD. Ten years later, it is no longer merely a curiosity, but a genuine therapeutic tool that is stimulating, innovative, and effective.
Sabrina Gineau
Psychologist
I incorporate this technology into brief therapies lasting two to four months, with one session per week. I begin with relaxation techniques and, when patients are ready, we proceed. It makes it much easier to expose people to these situations.
Noël Schepers
Psychologist
Virtual reality can enrich and personalize treatment, facilitate patient-therapist collaboration in developing the treatment plan, and add a playful dimension. The possibilities for development and application are immense and extend to every area of psychology and psychotherapy.
MĂ©lanie Boucherot
Psychologist
The value of this technology [C2Care] lies in offering new possibilities for therapeutic support and expanding the range of tools available to healthcare professionals.
François Maltese
Psychologist
For several months, we have been using virtual reality in habituation therapies. Before the procedure, patients are progressively and immersively exposed to their future medical environment and psychologically prepared to accept it.
Dre Marie-Claude Roberge
Doctor of Psychology
Since 2022, we have been using virtual reality therapy with the C2Care platform to simulate exposure to aversive stimuli and triggers that cause anxiety. Exposure therapy is used to treat specific phobias, including fear of heights, enclosed spaces, flying, dogs, emetophobia, and many others.
Dr Laure Du Pouget
Urologist
Using a virtual reality headset for self-hypnosis during prostate biopsies creates a calm atmosphere for a procedure that can sometimes be uncomfortable, even with effective local anesthesia...
Delphine Py
Psychologist
Thank you to C2Care for providing innovative virtual reality solutions to support CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)! A major step forward in making exposure exercises easier and helping our patients overcome their phobias.
Mesquita et al. — Virtual reality versus 2D videos for fear of flying: randomized controlled trial with long-term follow-up
Is virtual reality always better than 2D videos? A head-to-head randomized controlled trial for fear of flying with long-term follow-up
Lacey et al. — oVRcome: autonomous virtual reality for specific phobias
oVRcome - Self-guided virtual reality for specific phobias: A randomised controlled trial
Ribé-Viñes et al. — Virtual reality exposure with vibrotactile stimulation for the treatment of fear of flying
Virtual reality exposure with vibrotactile stimulation for the treatment of fear of flying: A pilot study
Shiban et al. — Diaphragmatic breathing during virtual reality exposure for aviophobia: coping strategy or avoidance behavior
Diaphragmatic breathing during virtual reality exposure therapy for aviophobia: functional coping strategy or avoidance behavior? a pilot study
Wiederhold et al. — Three-year follow-up of virtual reality exposure for fear of flying
Three-year follow-up for virtual reality exposure for fear of flying
Discover more
Depending on your patients' needs, other areas may also be relevant to explore. Discover the different environments available in C2Care.
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FAQ
Here are the answers to the questions most asked by practitioners and patients about the treatment of aviophobia in virtual reality.
Aviophobia affects approximately 10% of the French population and up to 20% of the world population. This fear can become disabling during professional or personal activities, which justifies treatment through graduated exposure in virtual reality.
Yes, all C2Care environments are grouped into a single application. You can go from the airport to the plane, or explore other phobias, without changing software.
The C2Care technical service can be reached via live chat from your control platform. A diagnosis is established with you and, if necessary, the defective equipment is replaced within 48 hours.
Virtual reality allows graduated and controlled exposure to anxiety-provoking situations, in a secure setting. The environments are reproducible and customizable, which promotes habituation and patient engagement in their treatment.
C2Care has been testing its virtual reality software in hospitals since 2016. This experience has made it possible to develop immersive environments adapted to anxiety disorders, including aviophobia.
Cybersickness, similar to motion sickness, can occur in around 10% of people using a virtual reality headset. The practitioner adapts the intensity and duration of exposure to limit this risk.
A virtual reality exposure session lasts on average 30 to 40 minutes. The complete treatment of aviophobia generally consists of around 8 sessions, adjusted according to the patient's progress.
