Mind Mansion: Exploring Metaphorical Interactions to Engage with Negative Thoughts in Virtual Reality

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Rasch, Julian, Zender, Michelle Johanna, Sakel, Sophia, Wagener, Nadine
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Rasch, Julian
Zender, Michelle Johanna
Sakel, Sophia
Wagener, Nadine
author_facet Rasch, Julian
Zender, Michelle Johanna
Sakel, Sophia
Wagener, Nadine
contents Recurrent negative thoughts can significantly disrupt daily life and contribute to negative emotional states. Facing, confronting, and noticing such thoughts without support can be challenging. To provide a playful setting and leverage the technical maturation of Virtual Reality (VR), our VR experience, Mind Mansion, places the user in an initially cluttered virtual apartment. Here we utilize established concepts from traditional therapy and metaphors identified in prior works to let users engage metaphorically with representations of thoughts, gradually sorting the space, fostering awareness of thoughts, and supporting mental self-care. The results of our user study (n = 30) reveal that Mind Mansion encourages the exploration of alternative perspectives, fosters acceptance, and potentially offers new coping mechanisms. Our findings suggest that this VR intervention can reduce negative affect and improve overall emotional awareness.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_04871
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Mind Mansion: Exploring Metaphorical Interactions to Engage with Negative Thoughts in Virtual Reality
Rasch, Julian
Zender, Michelle Johanna
Sakel, Sophia
Wagener, Nadine
Human-Computer Interaction
Recurrent negative thoughts can significantly disrupt daily life and contribute to negative emotional states. Facing, confronting, and noticing such thoughts without support can be challenging. To provide a playful setting and leverage the technical maturation of Virtual Reality (VR), our VR experience, Mind Mansion, places the user in an initially cluttered virtual apartment. Here we utilize established concepts from traditional therapy and metaphors identified in prior works to let users engage metaphorically with representations of thoughts, gradually sorting the space, fostering awareness of thoughts, and supporting mental self-care. The results of our user study (n = 30) reveal that Mind Mansion encourages the exploration of alternative perspectives, fosters acceptance, and potentially offers new coping mechanisms. Our findings suggest that this VR intervention can reduce negative affect and improve overall emotional awareness.
title Mind Mansion: Exploring Metaphorical Interactions to Engage with Negative Thoughts in Virtual Reality
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.04871