Efficacy of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy in the Treatment of Specific Phobias: A Systematic Review
Open accessAbstract
Specific phobia is defined as a notable and continuous fear of a certain object or a situation that particularly impairs daily life and functioning. It is also one of the most common psychological disorders. Exposure-based interventions are commonly used in the treatment of specific phobias. However, some limitations of the standard methods require the need for alternative approaches. In light of this, the use of virtual reality technology in psychotherapy has become increasingly widespread in recent years and is now integrated with exposure therapy. Virtual reality provides real-time interaction using the computer-generated three-dimensional environment via variety oftechnological tools. Applications of virtual reality in exposure therapy have proven to be an important intervention method, especially in the psychopathologies such as specific phobias. In this study, virtual reality exposure therapy for the treatment of specific phobias is systematically reviewed. Inclusion criteria were taken into account in the scanning performed in APA (PsycINFO), EBSCO, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Ulakbim ve TRDizin databses following the PRISMA method. Following that, ten randomized controlled trials, which included adult participants meeting the diagnostic criteria for specific phobia, examined the efficacy of virtual reality and exposure therapy compared to the control group, and the ones with full text could be accessed, were included in this systematic review. The included studies were evaluated in terms of sample attributes, primary measurement tools, research design, characteristics of the intervention and its efficacy. In general, the findings indicate the efficacy of virtual reality exposure therapy in reducing specific phobia symptoms. Follow-up studies support the long-term maintenance of the results.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Evidence shows substantial improvements in therapeutic outcomes with iVR.
“with evidence showing substantial improvements in therapeutic outcomes [23].”
From SAFEvR MentalVeRse.app: Development of a Free Immersive Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Acrophobia and Claustrophobia (2024) · cites this paper as [23]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 67 · Cited by 7
Research works printed but not linked: 5
- Antony MM, Barlow DH (2002) Specific phobias. In Anxiety and its Disorders -The Nature and Treatment of Anxiety and Panic (Ed. DH Barlow): 380-417. London, Guilford Press.
- Dinh HQ, Walker N, Hodges LF, Song C, Kobayashi A (1999) Evaluating the importance of multi-sensory input on memory and the sense of presence in virtual environments (p. 222-228). IEEE Comput Soc, Houston.
- Eaton WW, Dryman A, Weissman MM (1991) Panic and phobia. In Psychiatric Disorders in America: The Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study (Eds LA Robins, DA Regier):155-179. Los Angeles, CA, Free Press.
- Marks IM (1978) Behavioral psychotherapy of adult neurosis. In Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change (Eds SL Garfield, AE Bergin):493-547). Chichester, Wiley.
- North M, North S (1994) Virtual environments and psychological disorders. Electronic Journal of Virtual Culture, 2:37-42.
- Authors
- DEMİR, M., & KÖSKÜN, T.
- Affiliations
- Tarsus Üniversitesi
- Adnan Menderes University (TR)
- Venue
- Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar
- Publisher
- Current Approaches in Psychiatry
- Published
- 2023-12-25
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 562-576
- ISSN
- 1309-0658 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4363652250
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 4
- FWCI
- 0.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DergiPark (Istanbul University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Destekleyen kurum bulunmamaktadır. (Çalışma bir proje kapsamında yürütülmemiştir.)
- 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
- virtual reality exposure therapy, specific phobia, exposure therapy, virtual reality, symptom relief, psychotherapy
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
