Liam Harte has a fear of public speaking. He knows what it feels like to be "sick to my stomach to the point where I couldn't even face the crowd." That personal experience drove the 21-year-old computer science student at Queen's University Belfast to spend three years building something that might help others.

His startup, Rephobia, has created a VR platform designed for therapists treating patients with phobias. The first application targets acrophobia — a fear of heights — guiding users through progressively more challenging virtual environments, from a ground-level building site up to the top of a 16-storey crane.

How It Works

The session begins in a virtual garage to learn the controls, then moves to a virtual therapist's office — a "safe space" users can return to if the experience becomes overwhelming. From there, participants ascend through scaffolding at eight storeys before reaching the crane.

At each stage, users rate their anxiety on a scale of one to ten. The platform also incorporates 360-degree video footage of Belfast filmed at equivalent heights, allowing researchers to compare which approach — interactive VR or passive video — better generates a genuine sense of height.

Dr Paul Best, a professor of mental health at QUB who is leading the study, was careful to frame it appropriately: this is proof of concept, not treatment. Current participants don't have a fear of heights — the focus is on testing immersion before moving to clinical populations.

Why It Matters

Exposure therapy — the gradual, controlled introduction of feared stimuli — is one of the most effective treatments for phobias. The challenge has always been practical: how do you safely expose someone to heights, confined spaces, or social situations in a clinical setting?

VR addresses that directly. The environments are controllable, repeatable, and can be paused or exited instantly. One participant, Colm Walsh, noted that despite being comfortable with heights in real life, the VR "did induce some anxieties and maybe things I didn't realise I had."

For Harte, the goal is to make exposure therapy more efficient and affordable — eventually extending beyond acrophobia to a broader range of conditions. A tool that helps practitioners rather than replacing them.

Source: BBC News