Immersive Virtual Reality Environments as Psychoanalytic Settings: A Conceptual Framework for Modeling Unconscious Processes Through IoT-Based Bioengineering Interfaces

Background: Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) is gaining increasing relevance in the field of mental health as a tool for therapeutic simulation and embodied experience. However, most existing VR applications are grounded in cognitive–behavioral frameworks, leaving unexplored the integration of symbolic, intersubjective, and unconscious dimensions. Psychoanalysis—particularly its constructs of setting, rêverie, and transference—offers a unique epistemological basis for designing therapeutic environments that engage implicit emotional processes. Aim: This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework for modeling IVR-based therapeutic settings inspired by psychoanalytic theory and enhanced through IoT-enabled biosensing technologies. Methods/Approach: We propose a three-layer architecture: (1) a somatic layer involving IoT-based real-time physiological monitoring (e.g., heart rate variability, galvanic skin response, eye-tracking, EEG); (2) a symbolic-narrative layer where the VR environment dynamically adapts to the user’s affective state through immersive visual and auditory stimuli; and (3) a relational layer where AI-driven avatars simulate transferential dynamics. The model is theoretically grounded in psychoanalytic literature and informed by current advances in affective computing and bioengineering. Conclusions: By bridging psychoanalytic metapsychology and bioengineering design, this framework proposes a novel approach to therapeutic IVR systems that move beyond explicit cognition to engage the embodied unconscious. The integration of IoT biosignals enables the mapping and modulation of internal states within a structured symbolic space, opening new pathways for the clinical application of digital psychoanalysis.