Okay folks, my summer sabbatical is over. Let’s talk Avatar
Therapy. I teased you about this concept
back in blog one, now it’s time to deliver.
Here’s the deal: a therapist can
join the virtual online community called Second Life www.secondlife.com, chose an Avatar with
which he or she can navigate through Second Life and communicate with other
Second Life members. The therapist can
then purchase land in Second Life and create a virtual office space where
“real” clients can visit for “virtual“ therapy sessions and pay real dollars
(or Second Life currency, called "Linden" dollars, after the creator of Second Life)
No joke.
D. Craig Kerley, Psy.D., a psychologist in the state of
Georgia, has an Avatar Therapy practice in Second Life. Check him out. http://www.drkerley.com/avatartherapy.html.
Here is my initial take.
I want to have an open mind, but the concept of Avatar Therapy really gets
my ethical spider sense tingling. Creating
a fantasy environment as the setting for a therapeutic relationship seems
wrong. The most powerful benefits of
therapy come from the quality of the therapeutic relationship itself. What
are the ramifications of that relationship being formed in a fantasy world? How does the learning translate to the real
world?
Feel free to challenge me on this one. I can see some useful applications of Avatar
Therapy: as a step in the exposure therapy model of treating specific phobias,
as a way of initially engaging an agoraphobic client or a troubled and alienated
adolescent. But, if we are going down
this road, please let’s keep the work brief and focused on getting the real
person into a real office.
Let’s help people get better in their First Life.
