Exploring Restorative Potential of Interior Design in Anxiety Treatment Using Virtual Reality

Former research in several design disciplines explored the influence of environmental design factors on people&s;s moods, emotions, and preferences in a variety of settings, ranging from office design to healthcare and at different contexts, while adopting theories of environment behaviour and environmental psychology. Within the interior design context, findings have shown the restorative potential of interior settings for their users when environmental stress factors are mitigated, and aspects of the natural environment are incorporated. The importance of restorative interior design became more apparent as we spent more time indoors, sheltering-in-place and isolating during and post pandemic. In 2022 the World Health Organization reported a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression due to the pandemic, where sheltering-in-place and isolation were associated with measures of elevated anxiety symptoms. The reported percentages were much higher for the frontline healthcare workers. Built environment and human health research have regained traction; yet, the main emphasis is on design solutions that help mitigate virus spread compared to ones that delve with the influence of built environment on mental health. Traditionally, medical service providers in mental health treatment, healing and grief centres use their offices or examination rooms for treating patients who do not need a more restrictive level of care. For long-term care, healthcare design and therapeutic architecture aimed at proposing “client-focused” environments at a larger scale, pointing out the importance of particular physical design issues such as privacy, comfort, variety and communication. For shorter, one-on-one or group meetings, it would be challenging to respond to the majority of patients&s; treatment and emotional needs, even if the space is designed with variety, versatility and adaptability goals. Virtual reality has great potential to overcome that challenge by hosting immersive 3D interior settings where spatial aspects of the interior environment can be manipulated and tailored for the needs of each patient, caregivers, and service providers.