Presentation
Potential of Metaverse as a Therapeutic Platform for Individuals With Depression
SessionPoster Session 1
DescriptionBackground
Depression is the leading cause of disability in the United States, affecting over 18 million adults and contributing to an estimated 490 million lost workdays each year. Barriers to accessing mental health care include shortages of providers, limited awareness, financial constraints, social stigma, and insufficient attention to mental health during routine medical visits. One promising solution to these challenges is the use of digital technologies, such as the Metaverse, in delivering mental health services. The Metaverse, a three-dimensional virtual environment where users can interact with others, digital objects, and simulated spaces, offers opportunities to replicate real-world activities such as socializing, working, and recreation. Within mental health care, it holds promise for enhancing the realism, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness of interventions, while preserving reliability and efficiency.
Objective
This study explores the potential of the Metaverse as a platform for eliciting therapeutic emotional responses in individuals with depression. We evaluated participants’ emotional arousal, perceived mental workload, and emotional engagement while they completed an emotional elicitation task in both a Metaverse environment and a real-world setting, and compared these measures between the two environments.
Experimental Procedure
The real-world setting of this experiment consisted of a soundproof laboratory room equipped with a desktop computer, a table, and a chair. For the Metaverse condition, we utilized Second Life (SL), a persistent 3D virtual world designed to simulate real-life experiences. Within SL, a virtual room was created that replicates the laboratory environment, along with two customizable avatars (one representing the researcher and the other the participant). The emotional elicitation task consisted of watching five short video clips in both environments to elicit emotions, including amusement, anger, disgust, fear, and sadness. These emotions were chosen for their relevance to therapeutic applications for depression. Fourteen individuals with minimal or no depression (ND) and fourteen individuals with self-diagnosed depression (SD) were recruited for the study. In each environment, seven participants were from the ND group and seven from the SD group.
In the real-world setting, communication between the researcher and participants occurred face-to-face, where participants visited the laboratory and watched video clips on a desktop computer via YouTube. For the Metaverse group, participants received a prerecorded training video with instructions on navigating SL. Upon arrival at the laboratory, they watched the video clips on a playback projector within the SL environment. All communication between the researcher and participants of the Metaverse group was conducted through SL avatars to eliminate direct in-person interaction. After watching each video clip, participants from both groups completed a 16-item self-report inventory to assess their emotional arousal. At the end of the experiment, participants completed the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to report their perceived mental workload and emotional engagement, respectively. In this experiment, environment type (real-world and Metaverse) and depression severity (ND and SD) were treated as independent variables, while the dependent variables included the dimensions of the 16-item self-report inventory, NASA-TLX, and PANAS. Two-way between-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine the main and interaction effects of the independent variables on the dependent variables. For any significant main or interaction effects, Tukey’s Least Significant Difference method was used to compare the means.
Results
The study found no significant effect of environment type on the reported perceived emotional arousal, mental workload, or emotional engagement. However, a significant interaction effect of environment and depression severity on perceived effort on the NASA-TLX measure was observed (F = 4.931, p = 0.036). Participants with minimal or no depression reported higher perceived effort in the real-world environment compared to the Metaverse environment.
Conclusion
The results indicate that the Metaverse is capable of eliciting emotional responses and facilitating therapeutic engagement comparable to real-world settings, underscoring its potential as a viable therapeutic platform. The lower cognitive effort observed in the Metaverse further suggests it may serve as a less demanding alternative for individuals who struggle with traditional therapy. These findings support the incorporation of Metaverse environments into therapeutic programs, allowing for the simulation of real-life emotional experiences in a controlled, adaptable, and accessible manner. Future research should investigate personalized Metaverse-based interventions, guided emotional regulation exercises, and immersive exposure therapies to further enhance mental health treatment.
Depression is the leading cause of disability in the United States, affecting over 18 million adults and contributing to an estimated 490 million lost workdays each year. Barriers to accessing mental health care include shortages of providers, limited awareness, financial constraints, social stigma, and insufficient attention to mental health during routine medical visits. One promising solution to these challenges is the use of digital technologies, such as the Metaverse, in delivering mental health services. The Metaverse, a three-dimensional virtual environment where users can interact with others, digital objects, and simulated spaces, offers opportunities to replicate real-world activities such as socializing, working, and recreation. Within mental health care, it holds promise for enhancing the realism, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness of interventions, while preserving reliability and efficiency.
Objective
This study explores the potential of the Metaverse as a platform for eliciting therapeutic emotional responses in individuals with depression. We evaluated participants’ emotional arousal, perceived mental workload, and emotional engagement while they completed an emotional elicitation task in both a Metaverse environment and a real-world setting, and compared these measures between the two environments.
Experimental Procedure
The real-world setting of this experiment consisted of a soundproof laboratory room equipped with a desktop computer, a table, and a chair. For the Metaverse condition, we utilized Second Life (SL), a persistent 3D virtual world designed to simulate real-life experiences. Within SL, a virtual room was created that replicates the laboratory environment, along with two customizable avatars (one representing the researcher and the other the participant). The emotional elicitation task consisted of watching five short video clips in both environments to elicit emotions, including amusement, anger, disgust, fear, and sadness. These emotions were chosen for their relevance to therapeutic applications for depression. Fourteen individuals with minimal or no depression (ND) and fourteen individuals with self-diagnosed depression (SD) were recruited for the study. In each environment, seven participants were from the ND group and seven from the SD group.
In the real-world setting, communication between the researcher and participants occurred face-to-face, where participants visited the laboratory and watched video clips on a desktop computer via YouTube. For the Metaverse group, participants received a prerecorded training video with instructions on navigating SL. Upon arrival at the laboratory, they watched the video clips on a playback projector within the SL environment. All communication between the researcher and participants of the Metaverse group was conducted through SL avatars to eliminate direct in-person interaction. After watching each video clip, participants from both groups completed a 16-item self-report inventory to assess their emotional arousal. At the end of the experiment, participants completed the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to report their perceived mental workload and emotional engagement, respectively. In this experiment, environment type (real-world and Metaverse) and depression severity (ND and SD) were treated as independent variables, while the dependent variables included the dimensions of the 16-item self-report inventory, NASA-TLX, and PANAS. Two-way between-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine the main and interaction effects of the independent variables on the dependent variables. For any significant main or interaction effects, Tukey’s Least Significant Difference method was used to compare the means.
Results
The study found no significant effect of environment type on the reported perceived emotional arousal, mental workload, or emotional engagement. However, a significant interaction effect of environment and depression severity on perceived effort on the NASA-TLX measure was observed (F = 4.931, p = 0.036). Participants with minimal or no depression reported higher perceived effort in the real-world environment compared to the Metaverse environment.
Conclusion
The results indicate that the Metaverse is capable of eliciting emotional responses and facilitating therapeutic engagement comparable to real-world settings, underscoring its potential as a viable therapeutic platform. The lower cognitive effort observed in the Metaverse further suggests it may serve as a less demanding alternative for individuals who struggle with traditional therapy. These findings support the incorporation of Metaverse environments into therapeutic programs, allowing for the simulation of real-life emotional experiences in a controlled, adaptable, and accessible manner. Future research should investigate personalized Metaverse-based interventions, guided emotional regulation exercises, and immersive exposure therapies to further enhance mental health treatment.
Event Type
Poster Presentation
TimeMonday, March 234:45pm - 6:15pm EDT
LocationRhinelander Gallery
Digital Health