Daniele Valentini

Technologies for dealing with grief are evolving rapidly. Along with other digital afterlife products, virtual reality can help maintain a connection with the deceased. It is widely recognized that, in most cases, the continuing bond with the deceased contributes to healthy grieving. However, if the continuing bond reinforces the denial of death, it can turn into a maladaptive coping strategy. In this paper, we propose a nuanced view of virtual reality for coping with grief, emphasizing potential clinical benefits as well as the risks of unregulated use. Although grief has always been technologically mediated, virtual reality has specific characteristics that set it apart from other technologies. It enables an interaction with the simulation of the deceased that is highly realistic, seemingly reciprocal, and even, to some degree, embodied. On the one hand, these characteristics can be leveraged in clinical contexts as an enhanced form of exposure therapy, for example. On the other hand, virtual reality can reinforce the disbelief of death due to the illusions of presence it creates. While denial of the loss is common in early grieving, when it persists, it is a symptom of prolonged grief disorder. To avoid this outcome, we suggest that the use of virtual reality should be limited to clinical contexts under the supervision of medical experts.