Psychiatr. Pol. ONLINE FIRST Nr 262: 1–14 Published ahead of print 16 December 2021 www.psychiatriapolska.pl ISSN 0033-2674 (PRINT), ISSN 2391-5854 (ONLINE) DOI: https://doi.org/10.12740/PP/OnlineFirst/142992 Application of 360° virtual reality videos in the assessment of paranoia in schizophrenia patients: a pilot study Dawid Kruk 1 , Iga Plencler 1 , Piotr Walecki 2 , Artur Daren 3 , Przemysław Stankiewicz 1 , Klaudia Proniewska 2 , Agnieszka N o w a k 4 , Andrzej Cechnicki 1 , Marcin Siwek 5 1 Community Psychiatry and Psychosis Research Center, Chair of Psychiatry, Jagiellonian University Medical College 2 Department of Bioinformatics and Telemedicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College 3 Faculty of Psychology, Pedagogy and Humanities, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University 4 Psychosis Research and Psychotherapy Unit, Association for the Development of Community Psychiatry and Care 5 Department of Afective Disorders, Chair of Psychiatry, Jagiellonian University Medical College Summary Aim. Virtual Reality (VR) has been widely used in psychiatry, including psychotic dis- orders. The main advantage of VR is its high ecological validity and controllability of the virtual environment. Our main goal was to test whether, similarly to computer-generated VR, 360-degree videos are able to elicit a state of social paranoia in prone individuals. Method. Sixteen schizophrenia patients and twenty-three healthy individuals were assessed using Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale and additionally, in the patient group, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS–6) and Peters Delusional Inventory (PDI) were used. The participants viewed four 360-degree videos with and without social content on a VR headset. Meanwhile, subjects’ heart rate was measured continuously. After the exposure, both groups were assessed with Social State Paranoia Scale (SSPS) and asked about momentary anxiety and sense of presence. Results. The schizophrenia patients reported higher momentary anxiety, although the results of SSPS did not difer signifcantly between groups. In the control group the heart rate decreased between frst non-social and social video, whereas in the patient group it did not difer signifcantly. There was a signifcant correlation of paranoid ideation experienced on daily basis (PDI) and elicited in VR (SSPS) in the patient group. Conclusions. In conclusion, paranoid responses can be triggered in patients with schizo- phrenia by 360-degree videos. Key words: virtual reality, schizophrenia, paranoia