Annual Research Review: Immersive virtual reality and digital applied gaming interventions for the treatment of mental health problems in children and young people: the need for rigorous treatment development and clinical evaluation
Open accessAbstract
Background: Mental health problems in children and young people are common and can lead to poor long‐term outcomes. Despite the availability of effective psychological interventions for mental health disorders, only a minority of affected children and young people access treatment. Digital interventions, such as applied games and virtual reality (VR), that target mental health problems in children and young people may hold a key to increasing access to, engagement with, and potentially the effectiveness of psychological treatments. To date, several applied games and VR interventions have been specifically developed for children and young people. This systematic review aims to identify and synthesize current data on the experience and effectiveness of applied games and VR for targeting mental health problems in children and young people (defined as average age of 18 years or below). Methods: Electronic systematic searches were conducted in Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science. Results: Nineteen studies were identified that examined nine applied games and two VR applications, and targeted symptoms of anxiety, depression, and phobias using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Existing evidence is at a very early stage and studies vary extensively in key methodological characteristics. For applied games, the most robust evidence is for adolescent depressive symptoms (medium clinical effect sizes). Insufficient research attention has been given to the efficacy of VR interventions in children and young people. Conclusions: The evidence to date is at a very early stage. Despite the enthusiasm for applied games and VR, existing interventions are limited in number and evidence of efficacy, and there is a clear need for further co‐design, development, and evaluation of applied games and VR before they are routinely offered as treatments for children and young people with mental health problems.
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Relatively limited research has explored the potential therapeutic applications of VR beyond exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy approaches, and research in youth is highly limited.
“However, relatively limited research has explored the potential therapeutic applications of VR beyond exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approaches, and research in youth is highly limited [2,5,6,16].”
From A Virtual Reality–Based Cognitive Defusion Application for Youth Depression and Anxiety: Mixed Methods Experimental Study. (2025) · cites this paper as [5]
The Study characteristics section reports only three youth VR studies examining two applications, supporting the claim that research in youth is highly limited. Variable intervention approaches says both VR interventions used exposure as their only treatment component. The review is scoped to children and young people, however, so it does not establish that research on VR beyond exposure-based CBT is limited across all ages; page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe application of VR in youth mental health remains critically underexplored.
“its application in youth mental health remains critically underexplored [5,6]”
From A Virtual Reality–Based Cognitive Defusion Application for Youth Depression and Anxiety: Mixed Methods Experimental Study. (2025) · cites this paper as [5]
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“…Kendall et al., 2010; Waite & Creswell, 2014) and maintenance mechanisms (e.g., role of threat and safety cues; Waters, Theresiana, Neumann, & Craske, 2017; attribution and interpretation biases; Creswell, Murray, & Cooper, 2014) of mental health problems from childhood to adolescence.”
Self-citationWijnhoven, L. A. M. W., Creemers, D. H. M., Vermulst, A. A., Lindauer, R., Otten, R., Engels, R. C. M. E., & Granic, I. (2020) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2020.101548 · Cited by 53 · cited 15× · see citing works
“Notably, exposure is considered a key treatment ingredient in CBT for anxiety problems in children and young people (Kendall et al., 2006; Peris et al., 2017) and recent research has high-lighted the limited (and potential detrimental) impact of relaxation exercises (Peris et al., 2015; Whiteside et al., 2020), yet th…”
InfluentialIs Virtual Reality Effective to Motivate and Raise Interest in Phobic Children Toward Therapy?
St-Jacques, J., Bouchard, S., & Bélanger, C. (2010) · The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.4088/jcp.08m04822blu · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Fleming, T., Lucassen, M., Stasiak, K., Shepherd, M., & Merry, S. (2016) · Clinical Psychologist · doi:10.1111/cp.12052 · Cited by 52 · cited 5× · see citing works
“They were conducted with children and young people with elevated symptoms of depression (Carrasco, 2016; Fleming et al., 2012, 2016; Merry et al., 2012; Stasiak et al., 2014) or admitted for severe psychiatric disorder including depression (Bobier et al., 2013).”
InfluentialEvans, R., Thirlwall, K., Cooper, P., & Creswell, C. (2017) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/pas0000375 · Cited by 50 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…effectiveness of applied games; however, the specificity and sensitivity of child self-report questionnaires are low among pre-adolescent children (Evans, Thirlwall, Cooper, & Creswell, 2016; Reardon, Creswell, et al., 2019), leading to recent recommendations to prioritize parent/carers report…”
Self-citationFarrell, 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 · cited 4× · see citing works
“, 2020), and standardized treatment approaches can be effectively disseminated by making sure that key ‘treatment ingredients’ are built in and always delivered (Farrell et al., 2020; Lambe et al., 2020).”
InfluentialVirtual reality exposure therapy for school phobia
Gutiérrez‐Maldonado, J., Magallón-Neri, E. M., Rus‐Calafell, M., & Peñaloza, C. (2009) · RECERCAT (Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya) · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Using a Serious Game to Reduce Stress and Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Carlier, S., der Paelt, S. V., Ongenae, F., Backere, F. D., & Turck, F. D. (2019) · International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare · doi:10.1145/3329189.3329237 · Cited by 48 · cited 6× · see citing works
“…al., 2011; Scholten et al., 2016; Schoneveld et al., 2016, 2018, 2019; Wols et al., 2018), children and young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Carlier et al., 2019; Wijnhoven et al., 2020), or children and young people referred for the treatment of anxiety problems (Coyle et al., 2011).”
InfluentialDeveloping an automated VR cognitive treatment for psychosis: gameChange VR therapy
Lambe, S., Knight, I., Kabir, T., West, J., Patel, R., Lister, R., Rosebrock, L., Rovira, A., Garnish, B., Freeman, J., et al. (2020) · Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.jbct.2019.12.001 · Cited by 48 · cited 2× · see citing works
“For example, reducing reliance on therapist delivery can reduce health care costs (Lambe et al., 2020), and standardized treatment approaches can be effectively disseminated by making sure that key ‘treatment ingredients’ are built in and always delivered (Farrell et al., 2020; Lambe et al., 2020).”
Self-citationHill, C., Creswell, C., Vigerland, S., Nauta, M. H., March, S., Donovan, C., Wolters, L., Spence, S. H., Martin, J. L., Wozney, L., et al. (2018) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2018.02.002 · Cited by 44 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Recent guidance for digital mental health innovations emphasize the importance of co-design (Bevan Jones et al., 2020; Hill et al., 2018; Richards et al., 2016) due to the benefits it brings in terms of: (a) design quality (e.”
Self-citationMaskey, M., McConachie, H., Rodgers, J., Grahame, V., Maxwell, J., Tavernor, L., & Parr, J. R. (2019) · Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2018.11.005 · Cited by 37 · cited 11× · see citing works
“Studies were conducted with children and young people with autism spectrum disorder and specific phobia (Mas-key et al., 2014; Maskey, Rodgers, et al., 2019) or general populations with symptoms of social anxiety.”
InfluentialDesign Thinking: An Innovative Concept for Developing User-Centered Software
Wölbling, A., Krämer, K., Buss, C. N., Dribbisch, K., LoBue, P., & Taherivand, A. (2012) · Management for professionals · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-31371-4_7 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Carrasco, A. E. (2016) · Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome · doi:10.4081/ripppo.2016.182 · Cited by 36 · cited 6× · see citing works
“They were conducted with children and young people with elevated symptoms of depression (Carrasco, 2016; Fleming et al., 2012, 2016; Merry et al., 2012; Stasiak et al., 2014) or admitted for severe psychiatric disorder including depression (Bobier et al., 2013).”
InfluentialFalconer, C. J., Davies, E. B., Grist, R. M., & Stallard, P. N. (2019) · Child and Adolescent Mental Health · doi:10.1111/camh.12326 · Cited by 31 · cited 1× · see citing works
“For example, we excluded several studies that described using virtual reality (e.g., Dewis et al., 2001; Falconer, Davies, Grist, & Stallard, 2019; Gutierrez-Maldonado, Magallon-Neri, Rus-Calafell, & Penaloza-Salazar, 2009; Maskey, McConachie, et al., 2019; St-Jacques, Bouchard, & B (cid:1)…”
Wols, A., Lichtwarck‐Aschoff, A., Schoneveld, E. A., & Granic, I. (2018) · Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10862-018-9684-4 · Cited by 29 · cited 3× · see citing works
“…people with elevated symptoms of anxiety in general populations (Knox et al., 2011; Scholten et al., 2016; Schoneveld et al., 2016, 2018, 2019; Wols et al., 2018), children and young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Carlier et al., 2019; Wijnhoven et al., 2020), or children and…”
The utility of the SCAS-C/P to detect specific anxiety disorders among clinically anxious children.
Reardon, T. C., Creswell, C., Lester, K. J., Arendt, K. B., Blatter‐Meunier, J., Bögels, S. M., Coleman, J. R. I., Cooper, P., Heiervang, E. R., Herren, C., et al. (2019) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/pas0000700 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Self-citationHowe, D. J., Batchelor, S., Coates, D., & Cashman, E. L. (2013) · Early Intervention in Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/eip.12096 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Bobier, C., Stasiak, K., Mountford, H., Merry, S., & Moor, S. (2013) · Advances in Mental Health · doi:10.5172/jamh.2013.11.3.286 · Cited by 18 · cited 5× · see citing works
“They were conducted with children and young people with elevated symptoms of depression (Carrasco, 2016; Fleming et al., 2012, 2016; Merry et al., 2012; Stasiak et al., 2014) or admitted for severe psychiatric disorder including depression (Bobier et al., 2013).”
InfluentialWhat keeps them motivated? Children’s views on an applied game for anxiety
Schoneveld, E. A., Lichtwarck‐Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2018) · Entertainment Computing · doi:10.1016/j.entcom.2018.12.003 · Cited by 10 · cited 4× · see citing works
“…2016), expected the applied games to be helpful in targeting their mental health symptoms (prior to use; e.g., Schoneveld et al., 2018), found them relevant (e.g., appropriately anxiety inducing; e.g., Schoneveld et al., 2019) and acceptable (e.g., enjoyable and useful; e.g., Bobier et al., 2013).”
InfluentialTowards a gold standard for internet-delivered programs in behavioral and mental health
Richards, D., Viganò, N., O'Callaghan, D., O’Brien, E. Z., Mooney, J., & Bonner, C. (2016) · European Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.2280 · Cited by 7 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Recent guidance for digital mental health innovations emphasize the importance of co-design (Bevan Jones et al., 2020; Hill et al., 2018; Richards et al., 2016) due to the benefits it brings in terms of: (a) design quality (e.g., Yardley, Morrison, Bradbury, & Muller, 2015), (b) adherence (e.g.,…”
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- © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. doi:10.1111/jcpp.13400 Virtual reality and gaming interventions for mental health problems
- Maedche, A. Botzenhardt, & L. Neer (Eds.), Software for people (pp. 121-136). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
- © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. doi:10.1111/jcpp.13400 Virtual reality and gaming interventions for mental health problems
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Advances in the use of virtual reality to treat mental health conditions
Bell, I. H., Pot-Kolder, R., Rizzo, A., Rus-Calafell, M., Cardi, V., Cella, M., Ward, T., Riches, S., Reinoso, M., Thompson, A., et al. (2024) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-024-00334-9 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
“Additionally, although adolescents generally enjoy and engage with VR-based games, they might not consistently perceive VR as directly applicable to addressing their mental health issues 16 .”
Litvin, S., Saunders, R., Jefferies, P., Seely, H., Pössel, P., & Lüttke, S. (2023) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/47285 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“Digital health interventions (DHIs) have repeatedly been shown to be effective in improving mental well-being and relieving the symptoms of depression [1-4] and anxiety [1-3,5,6] in young people.”
BackgroundLiverpool, S., Donagh, C. M., Feather, J., Uzondu, C., Howarth, M. L., Bannerman, F., Kaehne, A., Foster, C., & Mateus, C. (2025) · European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s00787-025-02722-9 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Lockwood, J., Williams, L., Martin, J. L., Rathee, M., & Hill, C. (2022) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/29008 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“Limited health economic data have been reported to support the use of digital health interventions [26,29].”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationBarker, T. G., O’Higgins, A., Fonagy, P., & Gardner, F. E. M. (2024) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2023.12.080 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Kahlon, S., Lindner, P., & Nordgreen, T. (2023) · Frontiers in Virtual Reality · doi:10.3389/frvir.2023.1240778 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Blanco, D., Roberts, R., Gannoni, A. F., & Cook, S. (2023) · Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/13591045231204082 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“A systematic review of both VREs and applied games (digital games that aim to educate and/or change patterns of experience or behaviour) interventions for childhood mental health disorders, only included three VRE studies (Halldorsson et al., 2021).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialExploring the Effect of a Nature-based Virtual Reality Environment on Stress in Adolescents
Björling, E. A., Sonney, J., Rodriguez, S., Carr, N., Zade, H., & Moon, S. H. (2022) · Frontiers in Virtual Reality · doi:10.3389/frvir.2022.831026 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“An array of technologies have been used to deliver mental health interventions, including web, mobile, and more recently, virtual reality (VR) (Hollis et al., 2017; Halldorsson et al., 2021).”
BackgroundHugh‐Jones, S., Ulor, M. N., Nugent, T., Walshe, S., & Kirk, M. (2023) · Mental Health & Prevention · doi:10.1016/j.mhp.2023.200265 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Balcombe, L., & Leo, D. D. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.796371 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Children and Young People’s Involvement in Designing Applied Games: Scoping Review
Saiger, M. J., Deterding, S., & Gega, L. (2023) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/42680 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Wols, A., Pingel, M., Lichtwarck‐Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2024) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2024.102396 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Effectiveness of digital games promoting young people's mental health: A review of reviews
Vié, C., Ramassamy, K. G., Thellier, D., Labrosse, D., & Montagni, I. (2024) · Digital Health · doi:10.1177/20552076231220814 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“…health conditions under study were: self-esteem, self-ef fi cacy and socialization 21 ; depression and depressive symptoms 16,17,20,22 – 24; anxiety 16,17,22,23,25 ; autism spectrum disorder 16 ; suicidal ideation, peer-victimization 24 ; emotion regulation dif fi culties 17 ; schizophrenia 23 ;…”
BackgroundInfluentialKaçmaz, K. Ş., & Kaçmaz, C. (2023) · Current Pediatric Reviews · doi:10.2174/1573396319666230214103103 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Digital Mental Health Amid COVID-19
Balcombe, L., & Leo, D. D. (2021) · Encyclopedia · doi:10.3390/encyclopedia1040080 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“There was preliminary evidence of efficacy for digital psychological interventions via games and virtual reality (VR) in children and young people [84].”
Weisz, J. R., Fitzpatrick, O. M., Venturo‐Conerly, K. E., Sternberg, A., Steinberg, J. S., & Ng, M. Y. (2023) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.13820 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Mitigating Gambling-Related Harms in Children and Young People: A Scoping Review of Interventions
Davis, C., Davidson, K., Arden-Close, E. J., Bolat, E., & Panourgia, C. (2025) · Journal of Gambling Studies · doi:10.1007/s10899-025-10387-x · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Orsolini, L., Appignanesi, C., Pompili, S., & Volpe, U. (2022) · International Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/09540261.2022.2118521 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“Insufficient research attention has been given to the efficacy of VR interventions in children and young people (Halldorsson et al., 2021).”
BackgroundCyborg Children: A Systematic Literature Review on the Experience of Children Using Extended Reality
Everri, M., & Heitmayer, M. (2024) · Children · doi:10.3390/children11080984 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“In fact, the rapid development and cost accessibility of immersive technologies as well as the fast scaling of VR products in the gaming industry have made children the main target for the commercialization of devices and programs for experiences in virtual environments [5,6].”
BackgroundNaumann, S., Bayer, M., Kirst, S., van der Meer, E. E., & Dziobek, I. (2023) · npj Science of Learning · doi:10.1038/s41539-023-00169-8 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Tomczyk, S., & Gottschalk, S. (2024) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.07.028 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Moreover, many studies reported a positive impact on motivation, excitement, and willingness to participate which is in line with previous fi ndings [31].”
InfluentialValle, A., Baglio, G., Zanette, M., Massaro, D., Baglio, F., Marchetti, A., & Blasi, V. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.720219 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Indeed, despite good acceptance and adherence, in most cases, the effects of VR/games intervention were comparable with the effects of non-therapeutic games (Halldorsson et al., 2021).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialUsing Virtual Reality to Reduce Stress in Adolescents: Mixed Methods Usability Study
Björling, E. A., Sonney, J., Zade, H., Rodriguez, S., Pullmann, M. D., & Moon, S. H. (2024) · JMIR XR and spatial computing. · doi:10.2196/49171 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“The use of VR as an intervention platform for adolescent mental health is an emerging area of inquiry [13,14].”
A Nunavut community-directed Inuit youth mental wellness initiative: making I-SPARX fly
Bohr, Y. M., Hankey, J. R., Thomas, A., Abdelmaseh, M., Armour, L., McCague, H., Barnhardt, J., Oskalns, M., Garvey, N., Singh, Y., et al. (2024) · International Journal of Circumpolar Health · doi:10.1080/22423982.2024.2401210 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“…communities, digital technologies are also positioned to help overcome barriers to treatment access such as geographical isolation and stigma, and promote the scalability and reach of interventions to youth who might not normally seek help through traditional mental health services [27,68,71,72].”
BackgroundWhitaker, E., Chessell, C., Klapow, M. C., & Creswell, C. (2025) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-025-00521-x · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Not all papers reported effect sizes and given the available data in papers, there were instances where a between-groups effect size calculator had to be used instead of a within-groups effect size calculator (following e.g. Ches-sell et al., 2021; Halldorsson et al., 2021).”
Self-citationKonaç, A., Bini, M., Fusco, N., & Bourdin-Kreitz, P. (2024) · JMIR XR and spatial computing · doi:10.2196/57225 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Pu, Y., & Luo, H. (2025) · Discover Psychology · doi:10.1007/s44202-025-00384-x · Cited by 6 · see citing works
AVALIAÇÃO DE UM JOGO DE TABULEIRO PARA CONTROLE DE ANSIEDADE EM ADOLESCENTES ESCOLARES
da Silva, A. G. C., de Andrade, J. S., da Silva, F. J. C. P., & de Oliveira, L. L. (2023) · Revista Enfermagem Atual In Derme · doi:10.31011/reaid-2023-v.97-n.2-art.1864 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Preventing adolescents’ social exclusion with serious games – a scoping review
Mäkinen, H., Kauhanen, E., Nykänen, K., Romppanen, T., & Koivisto, J. (2023) · International Social Work · doi:10.1177/00208728231178399 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Applied games have some potential in treatment of depression, but the evidence is still at a very early stage (Halldorsson et al., 2021).”
Schaarsberg, R. E. K., Ribberink, A. Z., Osinga, B., van Dam, L., Lindauer, R., & Popma, A. (2023) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/46592 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“These results fit well in the broader context of promising results that have been shown regarding VR-based interventions for mental health problems in children and adolescents [21].”
ResultCo-Designing Health-Related Digital Tools with Children: A Scoping Review of Current Practice
Roberts, P., Boylan, F., Collins, P. R., & Barblett, L. (2025) · Education Sciences · doi:10.3390/educsci15060671 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“…in what co-design entails, the inconsistencies in the methods used, and the lack of reporting on the co-design processes used in previous research (Halldorsson et al., 2021 clearly highlight a gap in the co-design research in relation to children’s engagement in health literacy tool development.”
Li, H., Zhou, L., Liu, G., Wang, L., Zhao, Q., Shaohong, X., & Cai, E. (2025) · Journal of Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.31083/jin27142 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Narrative-driven virtual reality serious game to support type 1 diabetes self-management in children
Gu, H., Muhaiyuddin, N. D. M., & Shaari, N. B. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-30114-1 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Baschab, J. F., Moehler, E., & Hussong, J. (2026) · European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s00787-025-02945-w · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“While most studies focused on adults with social anxiety disorder, generalizability to younger populations remains unclear and the questions arise, whether findings from adult populations can be gener - alized to younger age groups [29, 39, 44, 45].”
Ethnic representation within virtual reality: a co-design study in a forensic youth care setting
Schaarsberg, R. E. K., van Dam, L., Widdershoven, G. A. M., Lindauer, R., & Popma, A. (2024) · BMC Digital Health · doi:10.1186/s44247-024-00081-0 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Bilello, D., Swancott, L. J., Kloess, J. A., & Heyes, S. B. (2023) · Frontiers in Virtual Reality · doi:10.3389/frvir.2023.1142241 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Bell, I. H., Li, C., Thompson, A., Ellinghaus, C., O’Sullivan, S., Reynolds, K. A., Wadley, G., Liu, Y., Bendall, S., Gleeson, J., et al. (2025) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/70160 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“However, relatively limited research has explored the potential therapeutic applications of VR beyond exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approaches, and research in youth is highly limited [2,5,6,16].”
Boyle, D., Morrin, N., Scargill, J., Mulvey, F., Heavin, C., Flanagan, E., McMahon, B., & O’Connell, H. (2024) · Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/ipm.2024.22 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Sari, D. F. K. (2025) · Sinergi International Journal of Communication Sciences · doi:10.61194/ijcs.v3i2.757 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Digital Psychiatry: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions
Sidani, L., Nadar, S. M., Tfaili, J., Rayes, S. E., Sharara, F., Elhage, J. C., & Fakhoury, M. (2024) · Journal of Psychiatric Practice · doi:10.1097/pra.0000000000000819 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“…was not until the late 20th century that VR application started to gain signi fi cant momentum, initially in military and aviation simulation, 105 but also in applied gaming, 106 health care, 107 education, 108 and several other industries, evolving into the versatile technology that we see today.”
Lim, H. J., Kim, K., Moon, E., Kim, D.-R., Park, J., Shin, M., & Lee, Y.-H. (2022) · Mood and Emotion · doi:10.35986/me.2022.20.3.43 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
A Gamified Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Individuals with Arachnophobia: A Pilot Study
Lopes, I. S., de Almeida, R. S., Gomes, P. V., & Marques, A. J. (2025) · Virtual Worlds · doi:10.3390/virtualworlds4020015 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Zarei, T., Emery, M., Saredakis, D., Lee, G., Stubbs, B., Szpak, A., & Loetscher, T. (2025) · Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies · doi:10.1155/hbe2/4269145 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Emotional and Affective Responses to Gaming
Urbini, A. L., Ferraz, C. R., Kadri, G., Santos, R. I. M., Uchida, P. M., Barros, R. Â. C., & Marques, L. M. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-00325-6_9 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Pachiti, I., Milienos, F. S., Papadopoulos, T. C., & Dimitropoulou, P. (2026) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0343364 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Riches, S., & Williams, G. (2025) · Future Healthcare Journal · doi:10.1016/j.fhj.2025.100234 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Translating Games Into Effective Health Results Using Digital Tools
Brito, D. V., & Oliveira, H. Z. (2021) · Advances in medical education, research, and ethics (AMERE) book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-8824-6.ch004 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Barnes, S., Chandler, T., & Granda-Salazar, M. (2022) · Mental Health and Social Inclusion · doi:10.1108/mhsi-11-2022-0080 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Barnes, S., Chandler, T., & Granda-Salazar, M. (2023) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-37164-6_54 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Virtual Reality and Mental Health
Haws, J. K., & Lack, C. W. (2025) · Psychiatric Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.psc.2025.08.021 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Virtual reality among children with mental disorders: A mini-review
Kasrineh, M. R., & Tabatabaei, S. M. (2021) · Advances in Health and Behavior · doi:10.25082/ahb.2021.01.004 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Mental disorders are very common among children and adolescents since almost one in eight aged 5 to 19 deals with it and it may have a significant impact on his or her growth [2].”
How Do We Engage Children and Young People in the Design and Development Of Mental Health Games
Saiger, M. J. (2023) · ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) · doi:10.1145/3585088.3593921 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Furthermore, previous research has observed the lack of transparency regarding how user involvement methods are conducted, what activities are conducted and how engaging the design process is to participants [2, 12, 15].”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialJaffee, S. R. (2021) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.13424 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Naumann, S., Bayer, M., Kirst, S., van der Meer, E. E., & Dziobek, I. (2021) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/dkxp9 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Holgersen, G., Nordby, E. S., Elgen, I. B., Espeset, E. M. S., & Nordgreen, T. (2025) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-7556084/v1 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Improve your skills with virtual reality
Alsem, S. C. (2023) · doi:10.33540/1649
Active Virtual Reality Gaming: A Content Analysis and Case Study
Sorensen, M. S. (2023) · doi:10.46569/hm50tz936
Digital Mental Health Interventions for Children and Youth
Machado, A. S., Ferreira, B., Pereira, C. Y., Carrola, C., de Melo, B. B. V., & Campos, C. (2023) · Advances in medical technologies and clinical practice book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-6684-9251-2.ch002
Lopes, I. F., Tertuliano, M. L., & Coelho, T. (2023) · Advances in medical technologies and clinical practice book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-6684-9251-2.ch012
Suryadi, S., Kamil, M., Saepudin, A. A., Saripah, I., Nursahidin, & Rahman, A. F. (2023) · Jurnal Penelitian Pendidikan IPA · doi:10.29303/jppipa.v9i12.6417
Impact of a Virtual Reality-Based Simulation on Empathy and Knowledge Toward Misophonia
Lopes, I. S., de Almeida, R. S., & Marques, A. J. (2023) · Experiment@International Conference · doi:10.1109/exp.at2358782.2023.10546205 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“People with some type of mental illness suffer from prejudice, discrimination, and exclusion by society, which leads to the emergence of a stigma about this population [15]–[18].”
BackgroundUse of Technology in Brief Interventions
Gega, L., & Saiger, M. J. (2024) · CBT: science into practice · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-60746-2_16
The Use of Electronic Games to Treat Food Selectivity of A Six-Year-Old Child: a Study Case
de Campos, M. T., & Varanda, C. D. A. (2024) · Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental · doi:10.24857/rgsa.v18n4-195
The Application of Serious Games in Virtual Reality as Intervention for Sugar Addiction
Hascher, S., Ossmy, O., & Pontes, H. M. (2024) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-74138-8_28
Megale, V. (2025) · doi:10.1002/9781394278480.ch16
Chen, X., Poyade, M., & Rea, P. (2024) · Biomedical visualization · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-73270-6_11
Barnes, S., Conn, C., Patel, A., Tuluceanu, A.-C., Granda-Salazar, M., Gavin, J., Mercer, D., & Williams, A. (2025) · Mental Health and Digital Technologies · doi:10.1108/mhdt-08-2024-0019
"SAM" - School Attachment Monitor for the Assessment of Attachment in Children aged 4-8
Saiger, M. J., Aleid, Y., Minnis, H., Vinciarelli, A., & Brewster, S. A. (2025) · ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) · doi:10.1145/3713043.3731476
Fiedler, R., Geber, J., & Kellmann, M. (2025) · Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology · doi:10.1123/jcsp.2024-0018
Walker, D. C., Tran, M. P. N., Leavitt, L., & Contreras, D. (2025) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph22111618
“Digital mental health interventions provide a novel approach to closing this gap be-tween those who would benefit from prevention and treatment and those who actually engage with prevention or treatment, in any format [1,23,24].”
Uğurlu, D., & Çetin, E. (2025) · The Online Journal of Recreation and Sport · doi:10.22282/tojras.1682690
The Role Of Video Games In Clinical Psychology
(2024) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/979-8-88730-594-30251002
Pratama, G. D., Anggreainy, M. S., Bahana, R., & Prabowo, H. (2025) · 2025 10th International Conference on Information Technology and Digital Application (ICITDA) · doi:10.1109/icitda68167.2025.11332341
“There are also other forms of therapy addressed, such as SET-C [26], Game Based Therapy [27], and Digital Health Intervention [28].”
Development and Evaluation of Relaxing Virtual Reality Environments for Children: Pilot Study
Stassart, C., Thines, N., Evrard, V., & Schyns, M. (2026) · Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology · doi:10.1177/21694826261416461
Digital Interventions for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being in Young People
Katsikidou, M. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-08980-9_10
Co‐Designing a Virtual Reality Intervention for Adolescents With Psychosis
Holgersen, G., Barsnes, A., Pedersen, O. B., Nordgreen, T., & Elgen, I. B. (2026) · Early Intervention in Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/eip.70145
“Additional to the importance of co-designing intervention (Bucci et al. 2018; Halldorsson et al. 2021) it is also recommended that the development process is published in order to allow transparency (Halldorsson et al. 2021).”
Alsem, S. C., van Dijk, A., & de Castro, B. O. (2026) · Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/13591045261434617
“VR is an emerging and promising intervention method, yet empirical evidence for reducing child mental health problems remains limited (Blanco et al., 2024; Halldorsson et al., 2021).”
Rubio, L., Lee, A., Clark, H., Campbell, S., & Pote, H. L. (2026) · doi:10.2196/preprints.94441
Immersive Therapy: A Novel Approach to Stress Reduction and Mental Health
Mukherjee, T., & Banerjee, S. (2026) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-83708-156-120261009
He, X., Wang, Z., Yang, X., Zhou, Y., & Yang, J. (2026) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2026.117157
Michaux, R., Wagener, A., Durieux, N., & Stassart, C. (2026) · European Journal of Pain · doi:10.1002/ejp.70282
“This limited consideration of developmental factors may, in turn, reduce the effectiveness of VR design (Halldorsson et al. 2021).”
Exploring Parents’ and Carers’ Views About the use of Digital Tools in Neurodevelopmental Assessment
McFadyen, A., Saiger, M. J., Jamieson, D., & Davidson, C. (2026) · Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/13591045261465044
Holgersen, G., Nordby, E. S., Elgen, I. B., Espeset, E. M. S., & Nordgreen, T. (2026) · JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting · doi:10.2196/93431 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“The involvement of adolescents in the development of such interventions remains relatively limited, raising concerns about whether existing tools adequately reflect their needs and preferences [44,45].”
Rubio, L., Lee, A., Clark, H., Campbell, S., & Pote, H. L. (2026) · JMIR XR and spatial computing. · doi:10.2196/94441
- Authors
- Halldorsson, B., Hill, C., Waite, P., Partridge, K., Freeman, D., & Creswell, C.
- Affiliations
- Reykjavík University (IS)
- University of Reading (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Creswell, Cathy
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2021-03-02
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 584-605
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- OpenAlex
- W3120263578
- Cited by
- 84
- References
- 74
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6
- FWCI
- 1.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CentAUR (University of Reading) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Reading
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Keywords
- immersive virtual reality, applied games, digital mental health interventions, children and young people, adolescent depression, anxiety, phobia, treatment development, clinical evaluation, co-design, treatment engagement
- MeSH terms
- Virtual Reality, Adolescent, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Child, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Mental Health, Video Games
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