Treatment of acrophobia in virtual reality: The role of immersion and presence
Abstract
In this study the effects of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) were investigated in patients with acrophobia. Feelings of presence in VRET were systematically varied by using either a head-mounted display (HMD) (low presence) or a computer automatic virtual environment (CAVE) (high presence). VRET in general was found to be more effective than no treatment. No differences were found in effectiveness between VRET using an HMD or CAVE. Results were maintained at 6 months follow-up. Results of VRET were comparable with those of exposure in vivo (Cyberpsychology and Behavior 4 (2001) 335). In treatment completers no relationship was found between presence and anxiety. Early drop-outs experienced less acrophobic complaints and psychopathology in general at pre-test. They also experienced less presence and anxiety in the virtual environment used in session one as compared to patients that completed VRET.
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Prior evidence reports attrition levels between 16.9% and 26.0% and dropout rates up to 41.4% in similar studies.
“based on evidence which reported attrition levels between 16.9% and 26.0%60 and reporting dropout rates of up to 41.4%.61”
Studies show unclear relationships between presence and emotions; some found significant positive correlations, some did not, and some found negative correlations.
“However, studies show unclear relationships between presence and emotions. Some studies found significant positive correlations, [56,57], some did not [54,58,59], and some even found negative correlations [60,61].”
From Recent Progress in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Phobias: A Systematic Review (2017) · cites this paper as [54]
Participants who dropped out early experienced less presence and did not feel anxiety in the virtual environment compared to completer patients.
“In fact, the authors found that participants who dropped out early experienced less presence and did not feel anxiety in the virtual environment, compared to completer patients.”
From Recent Progress in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Phobias: A Systematic Review (2017) · cites this paper as [54]
Krijn et al. found no differences between low and high presence conditions in the efficacy of VRET for acrophobia.
“Krijn et al. [54] manipulated presence using a head-mounted display (HMD) (low presence) or a computerized automatic virtual environment (CAVE) (high presence), finding no differences between the two conditions in the efficacy of VRET for acrophobia.”
From Recent Progress in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Phobias: A Systematic Review (2017) · cites this paper as [54]
In a 2004 acrophobia study, groups experiencing VR exposure with a low-presence HMD versus a high-presence CAVE did not differ on outcomes.
“a 2004 study on acrophobia exposure experimentally assigned participants to experiencing VR exposure with either a low-presence HMD or a high-presence CAVE, and despite finding the expected difference in presence scores, the groups did not differ on outcomes (although it should be noted that this contrast was low powered) (Krijn et al. 2004).”
From Better, Virtually: the Past, Present, and Future of Virtual Reality Cognitive Behavior Therapy (2021) · cites this paper as Krijn et al. 2004
Efforts to increase the sense of presence have not always led to higher levels of anxiety.
“However, efforts to increase the sense of presence have not always led to higher levels of anxiety [25].”
From A Meta-Analysis on the Relationship between Self-Reported Presence and Anxiety in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders (2014) · cites this paper as [25]
Existing published studies show mixed results on the correlation between self-reported presence and anxiety in VRET.
“Existing published studies show mixed results. While some studies have found significant positive correlations between self-reported presence and anxiety in VRET [23], [24], some have not [25], [26]. Some studies even found negative correlations between presence and anxiety [27], [28].”
From A Meta-Analysis on the Relationship between Self-Reported Presence and Anxiety in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders (2014) · cites this paper as [25]
The lack of emotional response has been reported as a potential cause for dropouts in VRET.
“Additionally, as the lack of emotional response has been reported as a potential cause for dropouts in VRET [25], [87], and the use of advanced technology increases the correlation between presence and anxiety, we would expect lower amount of dropouts in VRET by using advanced technology.”
From A Meta-Analysis on the Relationship between Self-Reported Presence and Anxiety in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders (2014) · cites this paper as [25]
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“For example, Krijn et al. (2004) excluded 10 out of 37 patients from an experiment in virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), because the virtual environment did not arouse sufficient anxiety. Patients who experienced no anxiety and dropped out reported significantly lower presence than the patients who completed the…”
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“Research in the field of VRET has demonstrated that even low immersion systems can still trigger anxiety and a high sense of presence in phobic patients [29, 30].”
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“However, the few studies on the effect of presence on VRET efficacy revealed mixed results (Schuemie et al., 2000; Krijn et al., 2004; Price and Anderson, 2007; Quero et al., 2008; Price et al., 2011).”
ResultThe Use of Virtual Reality in Acrophobia Research and Treatment
Coelho, C. M., Waters, A. M., Hine, T. J., & Wallis, G. (2009) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.01.014 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
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“The IPQ questionnaire is considered one of the canonical presence questionnaires and has been used in many research studies, including ones on the effects of mediation in a storytelling virtual environment (VE) (Brown, Ladeira, Winterbottom, & Blake, 2003), the effectiveness of VE in the treatment of acrophobia (Krijn…”
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“In VRET for fear of heights, the therapist can move patients to a higher step of a virtual staircase, or place them closer to the edge of a balcony [14].”
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“Krijn et al. (2004) recorded a patient drop-out rate of approximately 25%.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialComparison of the Levels of Presence and Anxiety in an Acrophobic Environment Viewed via HMD or CAVE
Juan, M. ‐., & Pérez, D. (2009) · PRESENCE Virtual and Augmented Reality · doi:10.1162/pres.18.3.232 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
“The study that is most closely related to our work was presented by Krijn et al. (2004).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialAlahmari, K. A., Sparto, P. J., Marchetti, G. F., Redfern, M. S., FURMAN, J. M. R., & Whitney, S. L. (2014) · IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering · doi:10.1109/tnsre.2013.2294904 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
“All of these factors would presumably enhance the subjects’ sense of presence, which may allow them to more effectively habituate to the stimuli that cause the increased symptoms [60], [61].”
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Böhnlein, J., Altegoer, L., Muck, N. K., Roesmann, K., Redlich, R., Dannlowski, U., & Leehr, E. J. (2020) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.12.009 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
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“People with BPD are at increased risk of self-harm, suicidal behaviors, completed suicides, and often have co-occurring disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and eating disorders (Lieb et al., 2004).”
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Viability of virtual reality exposure therapy as a treatment alternative
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“phobias [15] including claustrophobia [16], acrophobia [17], fear of flying [18], and spider phobia [19].”
BackgroundResultInfluentialInduction and Profiling of Strong Multi-Componential Emotions in Virtual Reality
Meuleman, B., & Rudrauf, D. (2018) · IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing · doi:10.1109/taffc.2018.2864730 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
“VR is increasingly applied in affective science to the study (and treatment) of pathological emotion such as phobia (e.g., [41], [42]).”
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Temporal dynamics in the relation between presence and fear in virtual reality
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“Belief in the authenticity of an event gives it the feeling of being a real experience [18,47].”
BackgroundThe reality of virtual reality
Schöne, B., Kisker, J., Lange, L., Gruber, T., Sylvester, S., & Osinsky, R. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1093014 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
“Furthermore, most studies that investigate VR in direct comparison to physical reality have a practical background and are based on clinical applications, foremost exposure therapies (Krijn et al., 2004; Gorini et al., 2010; Oing and Prescott, 2018; Boeldt et al., 2019).”
BackgroundThe role of presence in the level of anxiety experienced in clinical virtual environments
Alsina-Jurnet, I., Gutiérrez‐Maldonado, J., & Rangel-Gómez, M.-V. (2010) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.09.018 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Deterioration rates in Virtual Reality Therapy: An individual patient data level meta-analysis
Fernández-Álvarez, J., Rozental, A., Carlbring, P., Colombo, D., Riva, G., Anderson, P. L., Baños, R. M., Benbow, A. A., Bouchard, S., Bretón-López, J. M., et al. (2019) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.06.005 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Self-citationLing, Y., Brinkman, W.-P., Nefs, H. T., Qu, C., & Heynderickx, I. (2012) · Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments · doi:10.1162/pres_a_00111 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
“Krijn et al. (2004), for example, reported that 10 out of 37 participants were excluded from their experiment.”
BackgroundGromer, D., Madeira, O., Gast, P., Nehfischer, M., Jost, M., Müller, M., Mühlberger, A., & Pauli, P. (2018) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00372 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
The impact of user perceptions of AR on purchase intention of location-based AR navigation systems
Jung, T. H., Bae, S., Moorhouse, N., & Kwon, O. (2021) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102575 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Samosorn, A., Gilbert, G. E., Bauman, E. B., Khine, J., & McGonigle, D. (2019) · Clinical Simulation in Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.ecns.2019.10.004 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Stress research during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
Pfeifer, L. S., Heyers, K., Ocklenburg, S., & Wolf, O. T. (2021) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.045 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
“Virtual reality or computer-based exposure therapy are already well-established (Baños et al., 2002; Botella et al., 2004; Coelho et al., 2009; Krijn et al., 2004; Mühlberger et al., 2001; Tortella-Feliu et al., 2011).”
The Vicarios Virtual Reality Interface for Remote Robotic Teleoperation
Naceri, A., Mazzanti, D., Bimbo, J., Tefera, Y. T., Prattichizzo, D., Caldwell, D. G., Mattos, L. S., & Deshpande, N. (2021) · Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems · doi:10.1007/s10846-021-01311-7 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
“More immersive technologies typically elicit a greater sense of presence from the users [22, 51].”
BackgroundVideogames as Therapy: An Updated Selective Review of the Medical and Psychological Literature
Griffiths, M. D., Kuss, D. J., & Ortiz de Gortari, A. B. (2017) · International Journal of Privacy and Health Information Management · doi:10.4018/ijphim.2017070105 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Feasibility of Virtual Reality Environments for Adolescent Social Anxiety Disorder
Parrish, D., Oxhandler, H. K., Duron, J.-B., Swank, P., & Bordnick, P. (2016) · Research on Social Work Practice · doi:10.1177/1049731514568897 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Virtual Reality for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders: A Scoping Review
Donnelly, M. R., Reinberg, R., Ito, K. L., Saldaña, D., Neureither, M., Schmiesing, A., Jahng, E., & Liew, S. (2021) · American Journal of Occupational Therapy · doi:10.5014/ajot.2021.046169 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“…by the sensory features of the VE, such as avatars (Malbos et al., 2013; Sch€afer et al., 2015), type of display (cave automatic virtual environment [CAVE] vs. VR in head-mounted displays [HMD-VR]; Juan & P erez, 2009; Krijn et al., 2004), and motion simulation (M€uhlberger et al., 2005).”
BackgroundMethodVirtual Realities in the Treatment of Mental Disorders: A Review of the Current State of Research
Eichenberg, C., & Wolters, C. (2012) · InTech eBooks · doi:10.5772/50094 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“…after VR exposure Emmelkamp et al. (2002) Acrophobia 33 RCT 3 VR and in vivo exposure were equally effective; results stable after 6 months Krijn et al. (2004) Acrophobia 37 RCT 3 VR administered by HMD and CAVE were equally effective; results stable after 6 months Krijn et al. (2007)…”
BackgroundMethodParsons, T. D. (2021) · Journal of Clinical Medicine · doi:10.3390/jcm10030378 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
“On the one hand, clinicians have effectively treated various phobias with VRET in general [68–73] and with acrophobia (fear of heights) [74,75] in particular.”
BackgroundVirtual reality as a mechanism for exposure therapy
de Carvalho, M. R., Freire, R. C. R., & Nardi, A. E. (2010) · The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.3109/15622970802575985 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“Other studies reported no relation between presence and anxiety (Krijn et al. 2004a,b; Slater 2004).”
BackgroundInfluentialBorrego, A., Latorre, J., Lloréns, R., Alcañíz, M., & Noé, E. (2016) · Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1186/s12984-016-0174-1 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“In contrast to our study, previous reports have shown that CAVE systems facilitate greater sense of presence than HMDs [14, 34, 52, 53].”
ResultMatsangidou, M., Otkhmezuri, B., Ang, C. S., Avraamides, M. N., Riva, G., Gaggioli, A., Iosif, D., & Karekla, M. (2020) · Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/07370024.2020.1788945 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“The study investigated the use of VRET for reducing the fear of heights (Krijn et al., 2004) and showed a positive effect on acrophobia and a decrease in user’s anxiety which was maintained at a 6-month follow-up.”
BackgroundHuang, H., Hwang, G.-J., & Jong, M. S.-Y. (2022) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104593 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Thévin, L., Briant, C., & Brock, A. (2020) · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing · doi:10.1145/3377879 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
““Presence” refers to the user’s subjective experience of “being there” in the virtual world [11, 63, 66] and forgetting the technology [40].”
BackgroundKrijn, M., Emmelkamp, P. M. G., Ólafsson, R. P., Schuemie, M. J., & van der Mast, C. P. A. G. (2007) · CyberPsychology & Behavior · doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9943 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
“45), or an interaction effect of time by order (F(3, 18) 0.”
Self-citationVirtual Reality Interventions for Personal Development: A Meta-Analysis of Hardware and Software
Howard, M. C. (2018) · Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/07370024.2018.1469408 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
“…part or all of the individual ’ s perception fails to accurately acknowledge the role of technology in the experience ” (Lombard, 2000; as cited in Krijn et al., 2004; Schmierbach et al., 2012), and immersion (physical fidelity) and cognitive fidelity are often expected to contribute to feelings…”
BackgroundInfluentialJouriles, E. N., McDonald, R., Kullowatz, A., Rosenfield, D., Gomez, G. S., & Cuevas, A. (2008) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2008.09.002 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
“, 2006; Rothbaum, Hodges, Smith, Lee, & Price, 2000) or fear of heights (Emmelkamp, Bruynzeel, Drost, & van der Mast, 2001; Krijn et al., 2004), patients are exposed to a virtual environment that does not call for extensive social interaction with another person.”
BackgroundDo conversations with virtual avatars increase feelings of social anxiety?
Powers, M. B., Briceno, N. F., Gresham, R. M., Jouriles, E. N., Emmelkamp, P. M. G., & Smits, J. A. J. (2013) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2013.03.003 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Self-citationConversations with a virtual human: Synthetic emotions and human responses
Qu, C., Brinkman, W., Ling, Y., Wiggers, P., & Heynderickx, I. E. J. (2014) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.01.033 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
A virtual reality claustrophobia therapy system - implementation and test
Bruce, M., & Regenbrecht, H. T. (2009) · IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) · doi:10.1109/vr.2009.4811020 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“Levels of presence reported were comparable to those reported by users of the treatment system detailed in [ 18 ].”
ResultPromising technological innovations in cognitive training to treat eating-related behavior
Forman, E. M., Goldstein, S. P., Flack, D., Evans, B. C., Manasse, S. M., & Dochat, C. (2017) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.04.011 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Kritikos, I., Alevizopoulos, G. A., & Koutsouris, D. (2021) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2021.596980 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Ochs, M., Mestre, D., de Montcheuil, G., Pergandi, J.-M., Saubesty, J., Lombardo, É., Francon, D., & Blache, P. (2019) · Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces · doi:10.1007/s12193-018-0289-8 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Presence-Inducing Media for Mental Health Applications
Riva, G., Botella, C., Baños, R., Mantovani, F., García-Palacios, A., Quero, S., Serino, S., Triberti, S., Repetto, C., Dakanalis, A., et al. (2015) · Immersed in Media · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-10190-3_12 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Virtual Reality as a Tool for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Review
Scozzari, S., & Gamberini, L. (2011) · Studies in computational intelligence · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-17824-5_5 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
“Krijn and colleagues [262] observed no differences between VRET for acrophobia administered via CAVE or HMD, and improvements remained stable up to six-month follow-up.”
MethodExamining the potential of virtual reality to deliver remote rehabilitation
Pedram, S., Palmisano, S. A., Perez, P., Mursic, R. A., & Farrelly, M. (2019) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2019.106223 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
The Effects of Virtual Audience Size on Social Anxiety during Public Speaking
Mostajeran, F., Balci, M. B., Steinicke, F., Kühn, S., & Gallinat, J. (2020) · IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) · doi:10.1109/vr46266.2020.00050 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Augmenting the Reality of Phantom Limbs: Three Case Studies Using an Augmented Mirror Box Procedure
Desmond, D. M., O'Neill, K., de Paor, A. M., McDarby, G., & MacLachlan, M. (2006) · JPO Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics · doi:10.1097/00008526-200607000-00005 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Lee, H. M., & Li, B. J. (2023) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103042 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Costa, R. T. D., Carvalho, M. R. D., Ribeiro, P., & Nardi, A. E. (2018) · Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria · doi:10.1590/1516-4446-2017-2270 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Body Weight Perception of Females using Photorealistic Avatars in Virtual and Augmented Reality
Wolf, E., Döllinger, N., Mal, D., Wienrich, C., Botsch, M., & Latoschik, M. E. (2020) · Proceedings - International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, ISMAR · doi:10.1109/ismar50242.2020.00071 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“When instantiating behavioral changes through credible stimuli in therapy-supporting VR systems, a high level of presence has proven to be particularly important [30, 56].”
BackgroundJuan, M. ‐., & Pérez, D. (2010) · Computers & Graphics · doi:10.1016/j.cag.2010.08.001 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“[21] designed a study to investigate the effectiveness of two different conditions of VRET, varying in the degree of presence.”
Ronchi, E., Mayorga, D., Lovreglio, R., Wahlqvist, J., & Nilsson, D. (2019) · Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds · doi:10.1002/cav.1873 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“This study aims at comparing different VR systems, that is, a high-immersive CAVE system and a low-immersive mobile-powered HMD. 12,13 In such VR systems, presence is intended as “a psychological state in which virtual objects are experienced as actual objects in either sensory or nonsensory ways,”…”
BackgroundFarrell, L. J., Miyamoto, T., Donovan, C. L., Waters, A. M., Krisch, K. A., & Ollendick, T. H. (2020) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2020.06.003 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
AffectButton: Towards a standard for dynamic affective user feedback
Broekens, J., & Brinkman, W. (2009) · International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction and workshops · doi:10.1109/acii.2009.5349347 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“Other systems that use affective feedback include e-learning and pervasive computing systems [9] as well as virtual reality therapies [11], training simulators and tutoring systems [7].”
BackgroundWolf, E., Fiedler, M. L., Döllinger, N., Wienrich, C., & Latoschik, M. E. (2022) · IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) · doi:10.1109/vr51125.2022.00054 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“A higher immersion of a display usually results in a higher feeling of presence [8,12,52], and consequently to a higher degree of plausibility and credibility of the experience, which has been suggested as a necessary “hygiene factor” for behavior change in mental health using AR or VR [22,40,55].”
BackgroundSense of presence and anxiety during virtual social interactions between a human and virtual humans
Nexhmedin Morina, B., Brinkman, W., Hartanto, D., & Emmelkamp, P. M. G. (2014) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.337 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“Previous research has also yielded that some level of presence is a necessary but insu ffi cient requirement for an e ff ective use of VRET ( Krijn et al., 2004 ; Price & Anderson, 2007 ) and that the magnitude of the association between sense of presence and anxiety in VRET might depend on the…”
BackgroundSelf-citationVirtual Reality Exposure Therapy for the Treatment of Dental Phobia: A Controlled Feasibility Study
Gujjar, K. R., van Wijk, A., Sharma, R., & de Jongh, A. (2018) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465817000534 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Virtual reality applications for exposure
Bouchard, S., Côté, S., & Richard, D. C. S. (2007) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012587421-2/50017-x · Cited by 43 · see citing works
- Authors
- Krijn, M., Emmelkamp, P. M. G., Biemond, R., de Wilde de Ligny, C., Schuemie, M. J., & van der Mast, C. A. P. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Delft University of Technology (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Krijn, Merel
- Venue
- Behaviour Research and Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2004-02
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 229-239
- ISSN
- 0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2101484768
- Cited by
- 320
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 9.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- acrophobia, virtual reality exposure therapy, presence, immersion, head-mounted displays, caves, treatment outcomes, treatment discontinuation, anxiety, phobia treatment
- MeSH terms
- Analysis of Variance, Computer Simulation, Conditioning, Psychological, Female, Humans, Implosive Therapy, Male, Middle Aged, Phobic Disorders, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Therapy, Computer-Assisted, Treatment Outcome
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