But what if healing ourselves is not modifying an attitude, not altering our feelings, not changing our behaviors, but shifting a “presence”, an awareness, an energy? What if we experience “presence” not by engaging in fixing the parts but by detaching ourselves from ourselves to re-examine and reconstruct the whole?
When we guide ourselves through day-to-day situations, we naturally use the first-person pronouns “I”, “me”, “mine”. But findings (Kross et al., 2014; Moser et al., 2017) have shown that third-person introspection––using our own names to refer to the self––is an effective form of cognitive therapy that allows us to reason wisely, overcome bias-promoting egocentric impulses, self-regulate under stress-arousing conditions, and viewing uncertainties as challenges rather than threats.
We engage the form a perspective; we detach to form perspectives. While we are all protagonists of our own lives, every once in a while we need to shift our presence from self-immersion to self-distancing––to step outside and be the audience of ourselves.
Inspiration We all have an inner voice that we engage from time to time that guides our reflection. This engagement in self-talk makes us conscious of our attitudes, feelings, and behaviors.
But what if healing ourselves is not modifying an attitude, not altering our feelings, not changing our behaviors, but shifting a “presence”, an awareness, an energy? What if we experience “presence” not by engaging in fixing the parts but by detaching ourselves from ourselves to re-examine and reconstruct the whole?
When we guide ourselves through day-to-day situations, we naturally use the first-person pronouns “I”, “me”, “mine”. But findings (Kross et al., 2014; Moser et al., 2017) have shown that third-person introspection––using our own names to refer to the self––is an effective form of cognitive therapy that allows us to reason wisely, overcome bias-promoting egocentric impulses, self-regulate under stress-arousing conditions, and viewing uncertainties as challenges rather than threats.
We engage the form a perspective; we detach to form perspectives. While we are all protagonists of our own lives, every once in a while we need to shift our presence from self-immersion to self-distancing––to step outside and be the audience of ourselves.
What it does Experience a journey of self-discovery with ILLE, a virtual reality program that transports you to a serene oasis filled with floating bubbles. The user interaction is simple yet powerful: catch a bubble, speak into it in the third person, and release it. This catch-and-release process and referring to yourself in the third person allows for detachment from your thoughts and a wider perspective on the world. The tranquil setting, introspective prompts, playful bubbles, and encounter with your own avatar all contribute to ILLE's ability to help users find presence through detachment. Its ultimate goal is to create a more present, self-aware, and authentic future for its users.
How we built it The project's inception involved a multi-faceted approach, beginning with a day dedicated to brainstorming exercises and setting up collaborative workspaces. The following day was focused on prototyping, animation, and the development of the virtual reality environment. Our progress and ideas were presented to judges for feedback and further refinement. Finally, on the final half-day, we concentrated on perfecting our presentation, creating a video showcasing the project, and compiling comprehensive documentation.
Challenges we ran into The design and development of this project were not without its challenges. One of the initial obstacles was determining the best approach for executing the project. We had initially intended to create realistic avatars but quickly realized that this would require asking sensitive questions related to race, weight, and gender, which was not feasible.
Since humans naturally use first-person pronouns during introspection, building a narrative that encourages users to think from a third-person perspective was challenging. We needed a way for the user to think about and express themselves from a third-person perspective. Doing that just through audio prompts proved to not be compelling enough during user tests. The way we resolved it was by creating an avatar that the user could project themselves onto. It not only serves as a visual anchor but also as a way for the user to have an “out-of-body” experience that allows them to use the third-person perspective to self-introspect.
Accomplishments that we're proud of We successfully conceptualized a relevant and innovative solution for addressing mental health issues that can be utilized in the future. We are proud of our innovative philosophy that redefines “presence” as an act of detachment rather than an engagement in our own voices. By detaching ourselves from our egocentric visions, we shift our awareness to fully accept the unedited versions of reality. Witnessing the evolution of our idea into a fully-realized project, with each aspect and feature taking shape, was incredibly fulfilling. Our team's hard work and cohesive collaboration were major contributing factors to our success. Despite coming from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, we were able to come together and create something we all felt passionately about.
What we learned As we began our journey at the hackathon on the first day, we took the time to reflect on our individual motivations for joining and what we hoped to gain from the experience. Each team member had different goals in mind, whether it was honing and expanding their technical skills, bringing a thesis statement to life, or leading a project to completion within a constrained timeframe and with a diverse group of individuals. Despite these varying objectives, the hackathon provided an opportunity for everyone to gain the experience they were seeking. Here are some key takeaways:
The importance of shaping a narrative that flows with the user psychology while challenging users to rethink. Enhance accessibility and user experience by seeking and incorporating feedback from user tests. The need for more in-depth research to successfully reframe therapy techniques into interactive experiential media context. What's next for ILLE - Presence Through Detachment Future developments for ILLE will incorporate EEG sensors that record the participant’s real-time brainwave data associated with emotional distress and cognitive control. Participant speech data will also be collected for more holistic understanding of neurodiversity and wellbeing. The data serves as a valuable source for therapists planning for follow-up sessions and conducting mental health research. ILLE will adopt more realistic avatars customized to the user, facilitating user experience by helping them to clarify their in-game role as a therapist guiding themselves in third person. The demo is a showcase of one therapy session. In the future, ILLE will adopt AI-generated prompts for contextualized responses, developing a sustainable series of therapy sessions that therapists could use to with their patients to facilitate dialogues and collect data.
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