THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE

UGLY OF TECHNOLOGY:

EXPLORING VULNERABILITY TO

SCREEN MEDIATED HARM

DR. MARK DOYLE (C.PSYCH, FHEA)

SENIOR LECTURER IN PSYCHOLOGY &

COG. BEH. THERAPIST

SOLENT UNIVERSITY

MARK.DOYLE@SOLENT.AC.UK

@MARKODOYLE

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DR MARK M. DOYLE

Studied BSc(hons), Msc Applied Psychology (mental Health) and PhD in Psychosocial predictors of Child and Adolescent Mental Health @ Ulster University.

Studied PG Dip in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Adv. Level) – Uni. Of Southampton

Certificate in Complex Trauma and Childhood Abuse from NCS

Psychology Interests: Trauma, M. Health, Compassion Focused Therapy & CBT, secondary trauma

Non-Psychology Interests: Family, Running & Gaming/VR

Current Funded CREST Research project: Moral Injury and Belief Change in Police online investigators of childhood sexual abuse

CONTENTS

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THE GOOD…

RESEARCH LITERATURE

Review by Jerden, Grindle & van Woerden (2018): VR used to treat a range of anxiety disorders including social anxiety, ptsd, phobias. Reported as effective as in-vivo experiences.

Bouchard et al. (2017) observed an increased level of effectiveness for VRCBT over traditional CBT.

Also found to be effective as a distraction technique for pain management for burns, phantom limb pain, dental pain, neck& back pain and cystoscopy and kinesiophobia.

in Shah et al’s (2015) VR-based stress management program showed a decrease in the levels of depression and stress.

VR automatic Treatment of Psychosis (Freeman et al., 2019)

Schizophrenia and Avatar Therapy (Leff, Williams, Huckvale et al. 2014; Uvais, 2015)

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EXPERIENCES/APPS/PROGRAMS

Relaxation/Coping Experiences/Enjoyment/

Socialising

Exposure

Guided meditation VR Youtube VR/ Epic

Rollercoasters

Fear of Heights (Rickie’s Plank

Experience

Youtube VR (Relaxing 360

degree videos)

Pokerstars VR Fear of Public Speaking —

Personal Life app/ Speech

Trainer

Real VR Fishing Google Tilt Brush Fear of the Dark: theblu,

Arachnophobia

Beat Saber (active!) Museums Tours/Vrchat/ Rec

Room

360 degree videos

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VR currently in its therapeutic infancy …but rapidly expanding

Can be employed in a variety of ways to support therapy e.g. part of fear hierarchy, supporting coping mechanisms (refocusing activities), relaxation techniques

or more advanced auto-treatment like Freeman et al. (e.g. psychoeducation programmes, built in exposure and guidance)

What about the therapeutic relationship? Will it be the new cCBT?

More research is needed & more programmes required

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THE BAD…

RESEARCH LITERATURE

Influence of technology is not always positive: Social Media, Cyberbullying, promotion of hate speech, conspiracies and violence. Oculus quest 2 must have a facebook account.

Violent Media: Reduced Empathy & modelling of aggressive behaviours (Krahé & Möller, 2010)

Media Content: Horror and Neg. Responses (Clasen,

Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, & Johnson, 2018)

Secondary Traumatic Stress / Compassion fatigue in psychotherapists (Craig & Sprang, 2010) and social workers (Adams,

Boscarino & Figley, 2006)

Exposure to graphic details of abuse → PTSD, lack of empathy and burn out in police investigators of online sexual abuse (Bourke

& Craun, 2014; Evans, Coman, Stanley, & Burrows, 1993)

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EXPERIENCES/APPS/PROGRAMS

5 nights at Freddys

As graphics, agency and immersion increase → some individuals may be prone to significant distress from these experiences

Little to no ethical considerations from developers of content

Chronic Exposure to details can results in secondary traumatic stress / compassion fatigue → greater m. h. burden requiring trauma treatments

Effects of repeated exposure to horror media is under researched…

The effects of chronic reactivation of the HPA axis is consistently linked to a range of disorders from anxiety and PTSD to complex PTSD.

THE UGLY…

INTRODUCTION & MAIN AIMS

Increase in realism→ more distressing they may potentially become

Explore the potential effects of using virtual reality technology and observe if there are negative effects.

Vulnerable individuals → more prone to being distressed by threatening experiences

Why Horror? Schizotypy & belief in paranormal (Clasen,

Kjeldgaard & Johnson, 2020).

INTRODUCTION

Child trauma and HPA Axis/Cortisol responses (Perry, 2001)

Child trauma, insecure attachment and Mental health/Schizotypy (Doyle, Murphy and

Shevlin, 2016; Scheinbaum, Kwapil, Barrantes-Vidal, 2014)

Child trauma→ Adult Trauma and re-victimization (Brier, Elliot, Harris & Cotman, 1995)

Child trauma and vulnerability to PTSD in adulthood (Tolin and Foa, 2008)

METHOD

Each participant randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions (Video or Virtual reality group).

Participants randomized using an online number generator.

Each condition had their blood pressure taken 3 times prior to the condition and once immediately afterwards.

Heart rate belt and monitor also used.

Participants in the VR condition- played a horror vr experience called ‘The Visitor’. It presents the individual with a scenario where they are in bed and the visitor haunts the room.

The video condition is a recorded video of what the author viewed in his experience (Standardized).

Experimental Design:

STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3: 1 WEEK

FOLLOWING

EXPERIMENTATTACHMENT

MENTAL

HEALTH

CHILDHOOD

TRAUMA

SCHIZOTYPY

EXPERIMENTAL

CONDITION

BLOOD PRESSURE

(3 READINGS

PRIOR, 1

FOLLOWING)

HEART RATE

AFFECTPOST-

TRAUMATIC

STRESS

Procedural Stages

N=83

N=63

N=83

AFFECT

MATERIALS-PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASURES

Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE: Felitti et al., 1998)

Experiences in Close Relationships- Revised (ECR-R; Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2010).

Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS-SF; Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988)

General Health Questionnaire-12 (Goldberg et al., 1988)

Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire-Brief (Raine and Benishay, 1995)

Impact of Event Scale-Revised (Weiss, 2007)

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE VR CONDITION?

The video lasts just under 6 minutes. The VR condition can last much longer as the first jump scare is activated when you look to the right at a certain angle.

The video condition is a recorded video of what the author viewed in his experience (Standardized).

Each individual controls what they look at (and nothing else) so experiences are unique for the virtual reality condition.

and the visitor crawls along the roof and then jumps down at the participant and then the experience ends.

when a teddy bear appears exceptionally close to the participants face when you look back to centre;

The visitor is seen at different points but the 2 main jump scares are:

ETHICS

Project title included a warning about horror material

Information sheet warned individuals not to take part if they had a mental health problem or a heart problem

Participants could withdraw at any point throughout the study

I was present throughout the study for each participant and observed the participants for signs of distress.

Each participant was told to take the headset off if it became too distressing.

Debrief form for participants with supporting organisations (emailed).

RESULTS: SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS

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Mental Health 3+ n=47 Mean = 4

Schizotypy Mean = 8

PTSD Mean = 9 20+ n=9

Child trauma Mean = 2 4+ n=19

Adult trauma Mean = 1 2+ n=21

RESULTS

ANOVA: No Sig. differences

between VR and video on all psych. and

physical measures.

No relationship between physical

measures and any

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TRAUMA

FREQUENCIES

OF THE SAMPLE

Type of Trauma Frequency of

Endorsement

Humiliation/Intimidation 28 / 37.8%

Child Physical Abuse 16 / 21.6%

Child Sexual Abuse 8 / 10.8%

Psychological Neglect 17 / 23%

Physical Neglect 4 / 5.4%

Parents’ Separate or Divorce 31/ 41.9%

Domestic Violence 10/ 13.5%

Alcoholic Parent 19/ 25.7%

Parent(s) with Mental Health

Issues

22/ 29.7%

Parent went to jail 9 / 12.2%

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NC

PATHWAY MODEL OF VULNERABILITY TO DISTRESS

DISCUSSION

Why was there no link between physical measures and vulnerability? Or differences between VR and video

Frequency of Trauma = high

What do the correlations & Regressions mean?

What does the path model mean?

Child trauma-Cumulative

Lack of constant blood pressure monitoring throughout the entire experience (only before and after)

Heart rate monitors-at times refused to sync with the heart belt (n=72).

Initial idea was to explore immersion levels using pc’s as well however, not possible with the experience chosen.

Many participants=game development students (Graphics=laughable).

Reiterates the importance of trauma in mental health & vulnerability to further distress.

Individuals who have trauma experiences are likely to be re-victimised (Child-Adult).

Vulnerable individuals will put themselves into positions where they may potentially encounter a highly stressful scenario/experience (Sensation seeking) → neg. affect & Distress

The path model highlights a possible avenue from child trauma to distress through schizotypy and sensation seeking.

SUMMARY

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THANK YOU FOR

LISTENING…

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REFERENCES

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