Virtual Reality Therapy in France: A Therapeutic Innovation Between Technology and Care

The latest form of cognitive behavioral therapy, virtual reality therapy has been developing in France since 2012, in both university hospitals and private practices. Patients receiving this therapy are immersed in a digitally created environment, using a virtual reality headset, in order to be exposed to their phobias. How does the introduction of technical objects such as the virtual reality headset affect and transform the care relationship between the patient and the therapist? Based on an ethnographic study conducted between 2012 and 2018 in the psychiatric unit of a French university hospital, this article outlines the emergence of virtual reality therapy, describes how it operates, and analyzes how it shapes the patient-therapist relationship. I argue that this device-namely virtual reality therapy-promotes a new therapeutic style in psychiatry, whose format and therapeutic indications align with the requirements of evidence-based medicine.