This project focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of the use of new technologies in the treatment of flying phobia (FP), emphasizing on the use of Virtual Reality (VR) as a therapeutic tool.

Through VR, exposure can be done, and this is the most effective behavioral therapy for FP, integrating other cognitive and behavioral methods to improve their effectiveness.

A software which simulates different significant scenarios for people with fear of flying has already been developed. It is a virtual environment designed to help during the treatment, as it allows to sequentialize different levels of threat and incidents during the flight.

It allows individual exposures fully adjusted to the situations of distress, including trip preparation, dynamic information panels, conversations at the airport, storms, takeoffs under several weather conditions, night flight, turbulence, etc. The clinician can control and achieve a high degree of realism. It is composed of 3 main rooms: the hotel room (useful for working with anticipatory anxiety), the airport (the patient faces the moments before the flight), and the plane.

These technologies also allow high interactivity with the system and again have proven that a high degree of realism is generated. Several controlled studies with pre-and post-intervention and follow-up data have proven the usefulness of VR for the treatment of FP, and the high acceptance and patient satisfaction with technology.

Future work and developments in this line are aimed at further controlled studies to provide more information on the use of VR exposure therapy with cognitive therapy and its relationship to treatment outcome.