Wiederhold's favorite success story is a young woman who sought treatment for fear of flying. She would fly, but only after taking a potentially deadly combination of Valium and alcohol, beginning as she packed her suitcase.

"She would, in her own words, have to be poured onto the plane. It was a miserable kind of thing, and the minute she got where she was going she'd start worrying about the trip home."

The first two sessions with Wiederhold, the woman couldn't get far enough into the VR simulation to sit on the plane. Gradually she came along. Wiederhold says the woman was able to fly to Jamaica for her honeymoon, and to visit family in Florida "with no Valium and no alcohol. Now she flies with nothing."

Virtual reality may work wonderfully for phobias like flying, which may be cumbersome to recreate. However, Virtually Better's Graap concedes, many phobias, such as insects or needles, are easier for therapists to handle without the use of computers and motion chairs.

Virtually Better, Inc. has virtual elevator, bridge, storm, audience, and Vietnam environments available, and several others in development: virtual malls (for people afraid of big spaces or crowds), streets (for people afraid of driving) and pleasant environments that may be used as distractions for people undergoing painful medical procedures. Other international companies in Seoul, Milan and Valencia provide similar sorts of scenarios.

Graap says researchers are also studying environments that may help with balance disorders and attention deficit disorders. In addition, six-sided multi-media caves, similar to Star Trek's holodeck, are in development.

Depending on the computer they already have available, therapists spend up to $5,000 to equip themselves with virtual reality systems. Software adds more to the cost.

So what can patients expect to pay? Fifty-minute sessions run about $150. If you have health insurance that includes psychotherapy coverage, therapists say there's a good chance you'll be reimbursed for at least a portion of your treatment.

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