The DOI matches its Crossref record; 109 of the 109 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Use of Virtual Reality Technology in the Treatment of Anxiety and Other Psychiatric Disorders
Open accessAbstract
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After participating in this activity, learners should be better able to:• Evaluate the literature regarding the effectiveness of incorporating virtual reality (VR) in the treatment of psychiatric disorders• Assess the use of exposure-based intervention for anxiety disorders ABSTRACT: Virtual reality (VR) allows users to experience a sense of presence in a computer-generated, three-dimensional environment. Sensory information is delivered through a head-mounted display and specialized interface devices. These devices track head movements so that the movements and images change in a natural way with head motion, allowing for a sense of immersion. VR, which allows for controlled delivery of sensory stimulation via the therapist, is a convenient and cost-effective treatment. This review focuses on the available literature regarding the effectiveness of incorporating VR within the treatment of various psychiatric disorders, with particular attention to exposure-based intervention for anxiety disorders. A systematic literature search was conducted in order to identify studies implementing VR-based treatment for anxiety or other psychiatric disorders. This article reviews the history of the development of VR-based technology and its use within psychiatric treatment, the empirical evidence for VR-based treatment, and the benefits for using VR for psychiatric research and treatment. It also presents recommendations for how to incorporate VR into psychiatric care and discusses future directions for VR-based treatment and clinical research.
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“Experiencing presence when immersed in VR has been reported to be an important factor for the implementation of effective interventions in VR (Maples-Keller et al., 2017).”
From iSenseVR: bringing VR exposure therapy outside the laboratory (2019) · cites this paper as Maples-Keller et al., 2017
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“VR exposure therapy allows the controlled delivery of sensory stimulation (Maples-Keller et al., 2017).”
From iSenseVR: bringing VR exposure therapy outside the laboratory (2019) · cites this paper as Maples-Keller et al., 2017
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“For instance, virtual reality (VR) technology, accessed through head-mounted displays, provides an immersive experience similar to real-life situations and has been used in controlled environments [7].”
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“However, when traditional graded exposure becomes complex to set up due to difficulties to control specific environment cues, VR offers opportunities for highly controllable settings empowering sensory exposure with the presence of the therapist, which would not be possible otherwise (Maples-Keller et al., 2017).”
From iSenseVR: bringing VR exposure therapy outside the laboratory (2019) · cites this paper as Maples-Keller et al., 2017
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Citations
Cites
Ressler, K. J., Rothbaum, B. O., Tannenbaum, L., Anderson, P., Graap, K., Zimand, E., Hodges, L., & Davis, M. (2004) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.61.11.1136 · Cited by 1,063
Self-citationParsons, T. D., & Rizzo, A. A. (2008) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.07.007 · Cited by 994 · cited 1×
“…treatment research has been conducted for anxiety disorders, and broadly, results suggest the VRE is related to large declines in anxiety symptoms, 12 demonstrates similar efficacy compared to traditional exposure interventions, has a powerful real-life impact, and demonstrates good stability of…”
ResultVirtual reality exposure therapy for anxiety disorders: A meta-analysis
Powers, M. B., & Emmelkamp, P. M. G. (2008) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.04.006 · Cited by 904 · cited 1×
“14 There is evidence that treatment gains made in VRE generalize to real life, as meta-analytic results suggest that VRE patients, compared to wait-list patients, perform significantly better on behavioral assessments post-treatment, and found no significant differences between VRE and in-vivo…”
BackgroundSutherland, I. E. (1965) · Cited by 754
What's real about virtual reality?
Brooks, F. P. (1999) · IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications · doi:10.1109/38.799723 · Cited by 737
Virtual reality social cognition training for young adults with high-functioning autism
Kandalaft, M. R., Didehbani, N., Krawczyk, D. C., Allen, T. T., & Chapman, S. B. (2013) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1544-6 · Cited by 697
Effectiveness of computer-generated (virtual reality) graded exposure in the treatment of acrophobia
(1995) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.152.4.626 · Cited by 694 · cited 1×
“In particular, VR is effective in treating acrophobia based on both within-group,(38) and controlled between-group, data.(10,39,40) Similar effects have been observed in RCTs for treating arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and, in one multiple-baseline study, fear of driving.”
BackgroundSelf-citationVirtual reality exposure therapy in anxiety disorders: a quantitative meta-analysis
Opriş, D., Pintea, S., García-Palacios, A., Botella, C., Szamosközi, Ş., & David, D. (2012) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.20910 · Cited by 636 · cited 1×
“13 Meta-analytic results for VRE for anxiety disorders even suggest a small effect size favoring VRE over in-vivo conditions, despite most studies not demonstrating an advantage when considered in isolation.”
BackgroundDinh, H. Q., Walker, N., Hodges, L. F., Song, C., & Kobayashi, A. (2003) · Proceedings IEEE Virtual Reality (Cat. No. 99CB36316) · doi:10.1109/vr.1999.756955 · Cited by 566 · cited 2×
“control of sensory cues, particularly for auditory, tactile, and olfactory systems, increases the sense of realism and memory of the virtual environment.(1,4,5)”
BackgroundEfficacy of treatments for anxiety disorders: a meta-analysis
Bandelow, B., Reitt, M., Röver, C., Michaelis, S., Görlich, Y., & Wedekind, D. (2015) · International Clinical Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1097/yic.0000000000000078 · Cited by 555 · cited 1×
“Anxiety Disorders Awide body of research has suggested large treatment effects for exposure-based therapy for anxiety disorders.(11) Modern exposure therapy is based on emotion-processing theory, which posits that fearmemories are structures that contain information regarding fear stimuli, responses, and meaning.”
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Torous, J., Bucci, S., Bell, I. H., Kessing, L. V., Faurholt‐Jepsen, M., Whelan, P., Carvalho, A. F., Keshavan, M., Linardon, J., & Firth, J. (2021) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20883 · Cited by 1,199
Hamilton, D., McKechnie, J., Edgerton, E., & Wilson, C. (2020) · Journal of Computers in Education · doi:10.1007/s40692-020-00169-2 · Cited by 1,432
Neuroscience of virtual reality: from virtual exposure to embodied medicine
Riva, G., Wiederhold, B. K., & Mantovani, F. (2019) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2017.29099.gri · Cited by 608
“In many articles, attention is focused on the high level of control and customization allowed by this technology.(1,2,9,10,87) VR allows the level of fit between the content of the exposure and the feared stimuli to be optimized.”
BackgroundBrowning, M. H. E. M., Mimnaugh, K. J., van Riper, C. J., Laurent, H. K., & LaValle, S. M. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02667 · Cited by 507
Park, M. J., Kim, D. J., Lee, U., Na, E. J., & Jeon, H. J. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00505 · Cited by 437
“A new generation of realistic simulation can therefore (49).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Maples-Keller, J. L., Bunnell, B. E., Kim, S.-J., & Rothbaum, B. O.
- Affiliations
- Emory University (US)
- Venue
- Harvard Review of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2017-05
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 103-113
- ISSN
- 1067-3229 (ISSN-L)
- 1465-7309
- PMC
- PMC5421394
- OpenAlex
- W2611287876
- Cited by
- 862
- References
- 108
- Citations by year
- 2026: 111 · 2025: 147 · 2024: 115 · 2023: 93 · 2022: 113 · 2021: 117 · 2020: 85 · 2019: 51 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 5
- FWCI
- 4.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Harvard Review of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Genentech
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH094757, R01MH070880)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- virtual reality, anxiety disorders, mental illness, exposure therapy, virtual reality exposure therapy, immersive virtual reality, head-mounted displays, treatment effectiveness, psychiatric treatment
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety Disorders, Humans, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome, Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
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