Sydney’s first dedicated phobia clinic opens

Announcement posted by Sydney Phobia Clinic 24 Oct 2016

As the spiders come out and travel injections are booked in for Summer, Sydney Phobia Clinic is using Virtual Reality to effectively address specific phobias

Sydney, NSW: Sydney Phobia Clinic, a specialist psychology clinic aimed at treating specific fears and phobias through virtual reality (VR), has opened its doors today. The new clinic brings the latest research in VR exposure therapy to Australia, and will help the 6-12% of the population who suffer from a phobia for the first time.

On being the first dedicated and comprehensively resourced phobia clinic to open in Australia, Clinic Manager Pieter Rossouw said, “It’s a common misconception that phobias are something that you just have to put up with. This is because the most effective way to treat them––‘exposure therapy,’ in layman’s terms––has until now been impractical to undertake and difficult to control due to the requirement of very specific situations; say, a well-trained spider or a beeping MRI machine.

“It’s important that people know phobias can be treated, because while they are relatively common, in some cases they can be particularly severe and interfere significantly with people’s lives. Think of medical or dental phobias: anxiety about a medical procedure will often stand in the way of an individual getting important treatment, with severe long-term repercussions.”

It is estimated that 6-12%1 of people will suffer from anxiety related to a specific phobia at some point in their lives, making it one of the most undertreated mental health issues in the world.
It isn’t well known that phobias can be treated. A clinical psychologist can guide individuals through their phobias and effectively treat the associated anxiety through a method called Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – colloquially, exposure therapy.
We’re heading into a season of phobia-related anxiety. The spiders are coming back out to play, and people will need to get travel shots before travelling over the Summer break.
Virtual Reality is proven to be an effective method by which to deliver CBT2, 3.

Sydney Phobia Clinic is a specialist psychology clinic aimed at treating specific fears and phobias using the latest treatment technology available. The clinic recently opened in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.

ENDS

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1. Baxter, A. J., et al. “Global prevalence of anxiety disorders: a systematic review and meta-regression.” Psychological Medicine 43.05 (2013): 897-910.

2. Morina, Nexhmedin, et al. “Can virtual reality exposure therapy gains be generalized to real-life? A meta-analysis of studies applying behavioral assessments.” Behaviour research and therapy 74 (2015): 18-24.

3. Opriş, David, et al. “Virtual reality exposure therapy in anxiety disorders: a quantitative meta‐analysis.” Depression and anxiety 29.2 (2012): 85-93.