Immersion and Presence in Virtual Reality to Alleviate Anxiety Disorder

Abstract

Mediated communication has become essential as the current development of technology advances. Virtual reality as an audiovisual technology with the ability to simulate a virtual environment similar to the environment in the real world plays a vital role in mediating communication. On the other hand, nowadays, issues about mental health, especially anxiety disorder, spread vastly and become a public concern. This paper aims to see how virtual reality as a medium of communication can reduce anxiety disorders by creating ambient co-presence. The method used was meta-synthesis with a meta-aggregation approach to get comprehensive results. The research found that two main factors exist in virtual reality, namely immersion and presence, which are important factors in mediated communication. These two factors can create ambient co-presence, so they can be applied to reduce mental illness, namely anxiety disorder