{"title":"A Bibliometric Study of the Evidence About Applying Virtual Reality in Mental Health Care.","authors":"Saiyu Gao, Pan Su, Aiming Wang, Yongfang Tao","doi":"10.2147/JMDH.S536946","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Virtual reality (VR) technology has gained much traction related to mental health owing to its interactive features and immersive nature. A systematic bibliometric evaluation is necessary to guide researchers in identifying emerging trends and research priorities in VR technology applications for mental health, highlighting evolving challenges and research needs.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aimed to analyze the bibliometric characteristics and scope of evidence on the application of virtual reality in mental health care, synthesizing findings and exploring potential innovations.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace to examine 1333 articles from the Web of Science Core Collection (from January 1, 1999, to February 14, 2025), retrieved via the search query TS=(\"Mental health\" AND \"Virtual reality\"). The study mapped key research trends, including international and institutional collaboration networks, author co-citation networks, and the evolution of keyword co-occurrence to identify influential contributors, thematic clusters, and emerging developments in VR-based mental health research.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The analysis revealed three key findings: (1) Exponential publication growth starting in 2020 with over 110 annual publications; (2) Robust collaboration networks featuring 3587 authors with Riva, G. as a central figure and the University of London as the most prominent institutional hub; (3) Virtual reality, exposure therapy, skin conductance, mild cognitive impairment, psychosis, augmented reality, and serious game are the main research clusters. Emergent word analysis of keywords from 2014 to early 2025 yielded 34 words/terms with the strongest citation bursts.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study demonstrates VR's integration with traditional therapy and its expanding role in treating diverse mental health conditions, from anxiety to schizophrenia. Future research should focus on standardizing treatments and validating their efficacy.</p>","PeriodicalId":16357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare","volume":"18 ","pages":"5213-5225"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12399854/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S536946","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Virtual reality (VR) technology has gained much traction related to mental health owing to its interactive features and immersive nature. A systematic bibliometric evaluation is necessary to guide researchers in identifying emerging trends and research priorities in VR technology applications for mental health, highlighting evolving challenges and research needs.
Objective: This study aimed to analyze the bibliometric characteristics and scope of evidence on the application of virtual reality in mental health care, synthesizing findings and exploring potential innovations.
Methods: We conducted a bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace to examine 1333 articles from the Web of Science Core Collection (from January 1, 1999, to February 14, 2025), retrieved via the search query TS=("Mental health" AND "Virtual reality"). The study mapped key research trends, including international and institutional collaboration networks, author co-citation networks, and the evolution of keyword co-occurrence to identify influential contributors, thematic clusters, and emerging developments in VR-based mental health research.
Results: The analysis revealed three key findings: (1) Exponential publication growth starting in 2020 with over 110 annual publications; (2) Robust collaboration networks featuring 3587 authors with Riva, G. as a central figure and the University of London as the most prominent institutional hub; (3) Virtual reality, exposure therapy, skin conductance, mild cognitive impairment, psychosis, augmented reality, and serious game are the main research clusters. Emergent word analysis of keywords from 2014 to early 2025 yielded 34 words/terms with the strongest citation bursts.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates VR's integration with traditional therapy and its expanding role in treating diverse mental health conditions, from anxiety to schizophrenia. Future research should focus on standardizing treatments and validating their efficacy.
背景：虚拟现实（VR）技术因其交互性和沉浸性而在心理健康领域受到广泛关注。有必要进行系统的文献计量评估，以指导研究人员确定虚拟现实技术在心理健康应用中的新兴趋势和研究重点，突出不断变化的挑战和研究需求。目的：本研究旨在分析虚拟现实在精神卫生保健中应用的文献计量学特征和证据范围，综合研究结果并探索创新潜力。方法：我们使用CiteSpace对Web of Science核心馆藏（1999年1月1日至2025年2月14日）中的1333篇文章进行了文献计量学分析，这些文章通过搜索查询TS=（“心理健康”和“虚拟现实”）检索。该研究绘制了主要的研究趋势，包括国际和机构合作网络、作者共被引网络以及关键词共现的演变，以确定基于vr的心理健康研究的有影响力的贡献者、专题集群和新兴发展。结果：分析发现了三个主要发现：(1)从2020年开始，出版物呈指数增长，年出版物超过110篇；(2)以Riva， G.为核心人物，以伦敦大学为最突出的机构枢纽，拥有3587位作者的强大合作网络；(3)虚拟现实、暴露疗法、皮肤电导、轻度认知障碍、精神病、增强现实和严肃游戏是主要的研究集群。对2014年至2025年初的关键词进行紧急词分析，得出34个被引用次数最多的词/术语。结论：本研究证明了VR与传统疗法的结合及其在治疗从焦虑到精神分裂症等多种心理健康状况中的作用。未来的研究应该集中在标准化治疗和验证其疗效上。
期刊介绍：
The Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare (JMDH) aims to represent and publish research in healthcare areas delivered by practitioners of different disciplines. This includes studies and reviews conducted by multidisciplinary teams as well as research which evaluates or reports the results or conduct of such teams or healthcare processes in general. The journal covers a very wide range of areas and we welcome submissions from practitioners at all levels and from all over the world. Good healthcare is not bounded by person, place or time and the journal aims to reflect this. The JMDH is published as an open-access journal to allow this wide range of practical, patient relevant research to be immediately available to practitioners who can access and use it immediately upon publication.
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