« L’imagination au pouvoir ! » Appropriation, matérialité et performance de la thérapie par réalité virtuelle en santé mentale

• Main Author: Elsa Forner-Ordioni
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Association Anthropologie Médicale Appliquée au Développement et à la Santé 2019-11-01
• Series: Anthropologie & Santé
• Subjects: psychotherapy; patient autonomy; behaviorism; therapeutic innovation; neurosciences; medical technology
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/anthropologiesante/5399

Virtual reality therapy—otherwise known as helmet-assisted cognitive and behavioral therapy—constitutes a recent innovation among psychotherapeutic interventions in the field of non-drug therapies. Mainly indicated for patients with moderate mental disorders, the virtual reality therapy setting plunges the patient into an immersive environment thanks to the use of a virtual reality helmet. Patients can thus face their phobias, such as fear of heights or driving, and develop coping strategies to deal with these in everyday life. Based on an ethnographic survey conducted with a psychiatrist who created one of the first virtual reality therapy units in France, the article shows how this care setting, which is simultaneously standardized and personalized, can meet the constraints of evidence-based medicine and healthcare organization standards. Virtual reality therapy represents a significant step towards a greater involvement of the patient in care work. With a varied range of tools and tailored adjustments to the experience, the patient can become the “hero” of the therapeutic adventure.