Abstract:  Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) treatment is an important part of psychological treatment, but the conventional intervention psychotherapy has its limitations. Virtual reality (Virtual Reality, VR) technology has been shown to have promising applications in the field of psychological treatment and has distinct advantages over existing ASD treatments thanks to its ability to take into account the specific characteristics of ASD patients. This paper discusses the potential of virtual reality technology in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder and the current applications of VR technology for the therapeutic treatment of specific fears, emotion recognition, and social function in ASD patients. It also discusses the limitations of current VR experimental methods and the challenges associated with the research of VR on a growing variety of patients. Potential applications of virtual reality technology on ASD treatment are analyzed using a thorough psychological mechanism and demonstrate the need to upgrade virtual reality technology, artificial intelligence, and other high-end technology so as to optimize enhance human-computer interaction. Future commercialization efforts will also require VR systems to be both universal but also customizable so that they may cater to different patient characteristics.

Key words: virtual reality technology, autism spectrum disorders, psychotherapy