South African Psychiatry - February 2019

CULINARY CORNER
A MEANINGFUL MEAL
OF PSYCHIATRIC AND
PSYCHOLOGICAL
INFORMATION
If you are interested in acrophobia, our menu
today starts with a study regarding the most
therapeutic way of dealing with a fear of heights.
Then we go on to the medication used to help
a patient tormented by ghostly insects; the use
of mirror therapy in those tortured by phantom
limb pain; and the influence of alexithymia on
symptom over-reporting. The refresher comes from
a study which explores the impact of social group
membership on the recognition of creative work,
and dessert provides an answer to the question as to
whether the expressive arts can alleviate symptoms
of trauma or not. Coffee is accompanied by a review
study of optimism’s association with good physical
health.
STARTER
USING VIRTUAL REALITY AS A
THERAPEUTIC MEANS
Do you often listen in awe as others
boast about aeroplane or bungee
jumping? It sounds magical - but
also anxiety-provoking, particularly
if standing on a second-floor
balcony is about as high as you
will go. It turns out there’s a good
way of helping those of us with a
fear of heights to get in touch with
our adventurous selves. A group
of researchers (Freeman et al, 2018) carried out a
randomised trial of automated reality in the treatment
of a fear of heights. They divided up one hundred
acrophobic individuals into an experimental group
(forty-nine members) and a control group (fifty-one
participants). The members of the control group
were linked to a virtual reality program (VR) and their
levels of improvement were compared to those of
the control group.
PARTICIPANTS OF BOTH GROUPS WERE
OLDER THAN EIGHTEEN YEARS AND
SCORED MORE THAN 29 ON THE HEIGHTS
INTERPRETATION QUESTIONNAIRE (HIQ).
THIS QUESTIONNAIRE WAS CHOSEN
BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE
PREDICTIVE OF DISTRESS, ANXIETY,
AND AVOIDANCE OF REAL HEIGHTS.
FREEMAN ET AL (2018) NOTED THAT IT
HAS HIGH INTERNAL CONSISTENCY AND
CONVERGENT VALIDITY WITH OTHER
FEAR OF HEIGHTS MEASURES.
The experimental group interacted with a virtual
coach in a virtual office. He started off by presenting
ways of dealing with this fear from a cognitive
perspective. Participants were then “taken” to the
70 * SOUTH AFRICAN PSYCHIATRY ISSUE 18 2019