###### Abstract  
The increasing contrast between limited resources and growing demand in psychiatric care for anxiety disorders has caused an urgent need to find new cost-effective methods for treatment. This article studies the therapeutic potential of interactive audiovisual abstract art in a 360-degree virtual reality environment as a method for reducing anxiety and inducing relaxation. The study consists of experimental research of a virtual reality relaxation application called Binaural Odyssey. This research was conducted with 13 research participants between June and August 2021, and it uses a within-subjects design. Digital questionnaires, structured interviews, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) data, and the researcher's observations during the research situation were used to gather research data. Results of the study suggest that this method can produce positive mental health effects for the users, such as reduced anxiety and tension, as well as increased relaxation levels and mental resources. Binaural Odyssey is a promising prototype of this method, but it lacks parity regarding application contents and clear therapeutic goals and, therefore, cannot be recommended for treatment purposes. However, further development with mental health professionals could pave the way for a new functional treatment method for reducing and controlling anxiety and tension. a 2022 accepted: 14 September 2022 accepted: 16 September 2022 accepted:  
applications, as well as to numerous entertainment purposes--practically speaking, current virtual reality technology provides a cost-effective and immersive spatial platform that can be used to induce emotions via powerful audiovisual stimuli in various ways, which in turn can be highly beneficial in psychiatric care [5]. Virtual reality methods allow readily available and repeatable treatment, while also supporting the consistency of treatment delivery [6]. Virtual reality has been used since the 1990s in exposure therapy to experience problematic emotional triggers in a safe and controlled manner--early examples of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) include therapy for anachnophobia [7] and treatment for war veterans suffering from PTSD [8]. Lately, more subtle ways to affect human emotions in virtual reality have emerged, such as virtual natural environments, which aim to reduce stress and induce relaxation with digitally replicated real natural environments [9; 10]. Yet there seems to remain a large amount of unexplored potential regarding virtual reality therapy in terms of methods for promoting mental health and for psychiatric care, and one interesting direction for new ideas is reactive abstract art. Art has been with us since prehistoric times, evolving from ancient cave paintings to the modern world of art--evolving from an early form of communication to a multidisciplinary creative craft that aims to affect human emotions in various ways. Communication does exist in modern art as well, right in the heart of it, but is often used in a way that leaves room for interpretation. The definition of art itself seems to be elusive and a matter of perspective rather than some definite attributes that apply to all situations [11]. Regardless of the definition, virtual reality provides a new platform for modern art as well, providing artists an immersive 360-degree interactive audiovisual canvas. The relaxation application studied in this article, Binaural Odyssey [12], uses these artistic possibilities in an attempt to cause positive mental health effects to the users. Although art therapy was introduced in the 1920s and has slowly gained some popularity, art is still commonly thought to exist mainly in the realm of entertainment, while therapy is connected to health care--two very different areas of expertise. In other words, art and therapy are commonly thought to serve different functions. However, in reality, art and therapy can easily co-exist in the same application; it is more a matter of definition, verified effects, user group, and purpose.