Ethical challenges of using virtual environments in the assessment and treatment of psychopathological disorders
Open accessAbstract
Clinicians are increasingly interested in the potential of virtual environments for research and praxes. Virtual environments include both immersive and non-immersive simulations of everyday activities. Moreover, algorithmic devices and adaptive virtual environments allow clinicians a medium for personalizing technologies to their patients. There is also increasing recognition of social virtual environments that connect virtual environments to social networks. Although there has been a great deal of deliberation on these novel technologies for assessment and treatment, less discourse has occurred around the ethical challenges that may ensue when these technologies are applied clinically. In this paper, some of the ethical issues involved in the clinical use of novel technologies are discussed.
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Immersive platforms are designed to captivate users through multisensory experiences, gamified interactions, and real-time feedback loops that deepen engagement and increase the volume of data collected, ranging from eye movements and voice patterns to behavioural responses and biometric cues.
“Immersive platforms are designed to captivate users through multisensory experiences, gamified interactions, and real-time feedback loops that not only deepen engagement but also increase the volume of data collected, ranging from eye movements and voice patterns to behavioural responses and biometric cues (Parsons, 2021).”
From Virtual Reality Risks for Children in the Metaverse: An Examination through Criminological Perspectives (2026) · cites this paper as Parsons, 2021
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAdvancement in VR presentation technologies is already making progress towards decreasing and potentially eliminating simulator sickness.
“However, the advancement in VR presentation technologies is already making progresses towards decreasing, and, eventually, potentially even eliminating simulator sickness (Parsons, 2021).”
From Virtual Reality exposure therapy in the treatment of public speaking anxiety and social anxiety disorder (2024) · cites this paper as Parsons, 2021
Section 3.1, “Simulator Sickness” (page unavailable), describes VR techniques investigated to decrease simulator sickness and adaptive systems that could alleviate it. It does not suggest that these advances could eventually eliminate simulator sickness, and describes the adaptive approaches as potential rather than established progress. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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References 121 · Cited by 61
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- [45]Beauchamp T.L. Childress J.F. Principles of Biomedical Ethics Oxford University Press Oxford, UK 2001
- [51]Kennedy R.S. Berbaum K.S. Drexler J. Methodological and measurement issues for identification of engineering features contributing to virtual reality sickness Proceedings of the Image 7 Conference Tucson, AZ, USA 12–17 June 1994
- [57]Budhiraja P. Miller M.R. Modi A.K. Forsyth D. Rotation blurring: Use of artificial blurring to reduce cybersickness in virtual reality first person shooters arXiv 2017 1710.02599
- Authors
- Parsons, T. D.
- Affiliations
- University of North Texas (US)
- Corresponding author
- Parsons, Thomas D.
- ORCID
- Parsons, Thomas D.
- Venue
- Journal of Clinical Medicine
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-01-20
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 378
- ISSN
- 2077-0383 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7863955
- OpenAlex
- W3122430071
- Cited by
- 61
- References
- 121
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 1.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Clinical Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- virtual worlds, clinical ethics, psychopathological disorders, immersive simulation, adaptive virtual environments, treatment of mental disorders, personalized technology
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