By Ana Espino | Published on september 16, 2025 | 3 min read
#VirtualReality #MentalDisorders
#Psychiatry
Mental disorders, although highly
prevalent, remain strongly
stigmatized, even within environments that are
supposed to be better informed, such as
healthcare students. This stigma
contributes to delays in
seeking care, worsens
social isolation, and perpetuates
persistent prejudices. Traditional educational strategies have shown limited
effectiveness, particularly when they rely on passive or purely theoretical
formats.
In this context,
immersive
technologies such as
virtual reality (VR) are emerging as
innovative tools to
foster
lived empathy by placing participants in the shoes of a patient with
mental illness. The main challenge, however, lies in measuring the true effectiveness
of this approach and
comparing its impact on trained audiences (healthcare
students) versus untrained ones (students from other disciplines).
The objective of this study was to
assess the impact of an
immersive VR experience on stigmatizing attitudes in
two groups of students — healthcare and non-healthcare — within a randomized
controlled trial.
Diving into reality to change
perceptions?
A total of
206 students were
randomly assigned to two groups:
- An immersive VR intervention group;
- A
control group exposed to an informative 2D video.
Both types of content simulated the
daily experiences of a person living with psychotic disorders, including
auditory hallucinations and situations of social stigma. Stigmatizing attitudes
were evaluated before, immediately after, and two weeks after the intervention,
using three validated scales: Social Distance Scale, Personal Stigma, and
Perceived Stigma.
The results showed that, compared to
the control group, the VR group significantly
reduced perceived social distance
and personal stigmatizing attitudes, both among healthcare and non-healthcare
students.
Immersive VR proved particularly effective in inducing
immediate
empathy and raising
greater awareness of the discrimination experienced by
people with mental disorders. These effects were maintained at two weeks,
although slightly attenuated, suggesting
moderate durability of the impact.
Changing minds through immersion
Psychiatric disorders remain highly
stigmatized conditions, even in academic settings. Traditional approaches
struggle to bring about
lasting changes in perception, especially on the
emotional level. This study sought to test an immersive VR approach capable of
generating a sensory, lived experience beyond simple knowledge transfer.
The findings confirm that VR is a
powerful educational tool, able to reduce stigmatizing attitudes in the short
term, particularly by altering perceived social distance. This benefit was
observed in both healthcare and non-healthcare students, highlighting the
universal emotional impact of the experience.
However, the study also has
limitations that call for further research. Future studies should include
longer-term follow-up, a more diverse sample in terms of geography and culture,
and the integration of objective behavioral measures beyond self-reports. In
the long term, the aim is to evaluate the lasting impact of VR on attitudes and
behaviors in real-world conditions.
Integrating this technology into
university
curricula, combined with
more robust indicators and
immersive scenarios
extended to other mental disorders or social contexts, could make it a central
tool in combating stigma. By focusing on lived experience, VR offers a unique
lever to change perceptions where traditional approaches have reached their limits.
Read next: Can VR tip the balance?
About the author – Ana EspinoPhD in Immunology, specialized in Virology
