Virtual Tube Ride Reduces Paranoia

The BBC is reporting that a "virtual" tube ride can help people overcome their fears that other passengers are 'looking at them a bit funny'. This employs a "virtual reality" type experience (ie not a great deal like reality) that allows people to have more control over their environment than they would in real life, so that they can become used to the situation without feeling quite as threatened.

A similar technique has been used for some time for helping people get over their arachnophobia, and others.

Interestingly, I would have thought given the amount of fights, knife attacks and general chaos that happens on buses nowadays, the researchers would have been better served trying to work out a way of making buses *actually* safer, rather than tubes *virtually* safer.