Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry最新文献

{"title":"Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy, psychodrama, and their integration for treatment of social anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial","authors":"Hanieh Abeditehrani ,&nbsp;Corine Dijk ,&nbsp;Mohsen Dehghani Neyshabouri ,&nbsp;Arnoud Arntz","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101908","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101908","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Although cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) is an effective treatment for social anxiety disorder, many socially anxious patients are still symptomatic after treatment. A possible improvement for CBGT could come from the more experiential group psychotherapy, psychodrama (PD). The integration of CBGT and PD (labeled CBPT) might offer an even more effective treatment than CBGT or PD alone. With the present study, we investigated first whether three kinds of group therapy (CBGT, PD, and CBPT) are superior to a waitlist (WL). Second, we investigated whether CBPT is more effective than CBGT or PD alone.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>One hundred and forty-four social anxiety patients were randomly assigned to three active conditions or a WL. After wait, WL-participants were randomized over the active treatment conditions.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The results of a multilevel analysis showed that all treatments were superior to WL in reducing social anxiety complaints. Only CBGT and CBPT differed significantly from WL in reducing fear of negative evaluations. There were no significant differences between active conditions in any of the variables after treatment and after six-month follow up, neither were there significant differences in treatment dropout.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>First there is the lack of a long-term follow-up. Second, because of loss of participants, we did not reach the planned numbers in the active treatment groups in comparison to WL. Moreover, this study was not designed as a non-inferiority or equivalence trial.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Although the integrative CBPT showed good results, it was not more effective than the other treatments.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101908"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005791623000757/pdfft?md5=504ad94a50c22aff687e0e4b461f265f&pid=1-s2.0-S0005791623000757-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10193362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A neuropsychological study of misophonia","authors":"Amitai Abramovitch,&nbsp;Tanya A. Herrera ,&nbsp;Joseph L. Etherton","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101897","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101897","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Misophonia is a recently identified condition characterized by negative emotional responsivity to certain types of sounds. Although progress has been made in understanding of neuronal, psychophysiological, and psychopathological mechanisms, important gaps in research remain, particularly insight into cognitive function. Accordingly, we conducted the first neuropsychological examination of misophonia, including clinical, diagnostic, and functional correlates.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A misophonia group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 64) were screened for comorbidities using a formal semi-structured interview and completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and self-report measures of depression, anxiety, stress, impulsivity, and functional impairment.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The misophonia group significantly underperformed the control group on only 2 neuropsychological outcomes involving verbal memory retrieval. Subscales of the Misophonia Questionaaire (MQ) were inversely correlated only with measures of attention. The misophonia group reported significantly higher anxiety symptoms, behavioral impulsivity, and functional impairments, and had numerically higher rates of ADHD and OCD.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>To facilitate comparability, in lieu of a formal diagnostic algorithm for misophonia, we used a commonly used empirical definition for group allocation that has been utilized in numerous previous studies.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Misophonia was associated with a reduction in performance on a minority of cognitive tasks and a modest increase in some psychological symptoms and comorbid conditions. Correlational data suggest that difficulties with attention regulation and impulsivity may play a role in misophonia, albeit attention functions were intact. Results should be interpreted with caution given the variability in diagnostic definitions, and more research is needed to understand cognitive functioning under ‘cold’ conditions in misophonia.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101897"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10128658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does gaze anxiety predict actual gaze avoidance and is it more informative than social anxiety?","authors":"Jiemiao Chen,&nbsp;Esther van den Bos,&nbsp;P. Michiel Westenberg","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101896","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101896","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and Objectives</h3><p>In recent years eye-tracking studies have provided converging evidence that socially anxious individuals avoid looking at other people's faces in social situations. In addition to these objective measures, the Gaze Anxiety Rating Scale (GARS) has increasingly been used as a self-report measure of gaze avoidance. However, extant results concerning its predictive validity were inconsistent. Moreover, no study has considered social anxiety and gaze anxiety together to examine their relative contributions to actual gaze behavior.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>To address these two questions, eye-tracking data collected from 81 female students during the initial 6 min of a face-to-face conversation with a female confederate were analyzed. Gaze anxiety and social anxiety were measured via the GARS and the Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The results revealed that gaze anxiety was associated with reduced face gaze while speaking. Social anxiety was not only associated with decreased face gaze during speaking, but also across the initial conversation. Moreover, there was no evidence that gaze anxiety made an additional contribution to social anxiety in predicting face gaze behavior.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>This study examined face gaze instead of eye gaze. Additionally, the self-report data were not collected on the same day as the eye-tracking data.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The findings indicate that, in a community sample, gaze anxiety does predict actual gaze behavior during a face-to-face initial encounter, but social anxiety is a stronger predictor.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 101896"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41171791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy, psychodrama, and their integration for treatment of social anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Hanieh Abeditehrani, Corine Dijk, Mohsen Dehghani Neyshabouri, A. Arntz","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3985128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3985128","url":null,"abstract":"BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES\u0000Although cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) is an effective treatment for social anxiety disorder, many socially anxious patients are still symptomatic after treatment. A possible improvement for CBGT could come from the more experiential group psychotherapy, psychodrama (PD). The integration of CBGT and PD (labeled CBPT) might offer an even more effective treatment than CBGT or PD alone. With the present study, we investigated first whether three kinds of group therapy (CBGT, PD, and CBPT) are superior to a waitlist (WL). Second, we investigated whether CBPT is more effective than CBGT or PD alone.\u0000\u0000\u0000METHODS\u0000One hundred and forty-four social anxiety patients were randomly assigned to three active conditions or a WL. After wait, WL-participants were randomized over the active treatment conditions.\u0000\u0000\u0000RESULTS\u0000The results of a multilevel analysis showed that all treatments were superior to WL in reducing social anxiety complaints. Only CBGT and CBPT differed significantly from WL in reducing fear of negative evaluations. There were no significant differences between active conditions in any of the variables after treatment and after six-month follow up, neither were there significant differences in treatment dropout.\u0000\u0000\u0000LIMITATIONS\u0000First there is the lack of a long-term follow-up. Second, because of loss of participants, we did not reach the planned numbers in the active treatment groups in comparison to WL. Moreover, this study was not designed as a non-inferiority or equivalence trial.\u0000\u0000\u0000CONCLUSIONS\u0000Although the integrative CBPT showed good results, it was not more effective than the other treatments.","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"1 1","pages":"101908"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41522514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How do mindfulness and compassion programs improve mental health and well-being? The role of attentional processing of emotional information","authors":"Pablo Roca ,&nbsp;Carmelo Vazquez ,&nbsp;Gustavo Diez ,&nbsp;Richard J. McNally","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101895","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101895","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Although the benefits of Meditation-Based Programs are well documented, the mechanisms underlying these benefits have not been fully elucidated. Therefore, we examined whether: (1) formal training in mindfulness and compassion meditation modifies the distribution of attentional resources towards emotional information; and (2) whether changes in attentional processing of emotional information after the meditation programs mediate the improvements in psychological distress, emotion regulation, and well-being.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A sample of 103 participants enrolled in the study: 36 in the mindfulness program (MBSR), 30 in the compassion program (CCT), and 37 in the no-intervention comparison group (CG). The assessment before and after the programs included the completion of an emotional Attentional Blink task (AB) together with self-report measures of psychological distress, emotion regulation, and well-being.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>MBSR and CCT reduced similarly the AB deficit, whereas no changes occurred in the CG. This AB reduction was found for the different emotional and non-emotional stimuli (i.e., negative, positive, and neutral), showing a significant disengagement from first-target emotions and significant accessibility of second-target emotions to consciousness. The effects of both meditation programs on the psychological measures were mediated by changes in the AB and emotion regulation skills.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Due to our naturalistic design in a real-world community setting, random assignment of participants was not feasible.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Meditation may promote more flexible and balanced attention to emotional information, which may be a key transdiagnostic mechanism underlying its benefits on emotional distress and well-being.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 101895"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10093040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Examining the role of trait anxiety and attentional bias to negative information in intrusion vulnerability following an emotionally negative event","authors":"Ines Pandzic ,&nbsp;Lies Notebaert ,&nbsp;Julian Basanovic ,&nbsp;Colin MacLeod","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101894","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101894","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Research shows that individuals with heightened trait anxiety are more likely to experience intrusions; however, the mechanism that accounts for this relationship is unclear. Two alternative hypotheses were tested to determine the nature of the associations between trait anxiety, attentional bias to negative information, and intrusion vulnerability.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Intrusions were elicited using the trauma film paradigm, and post-event attentional bias to negative information was assessed using the dot-probe task. Participants then completed a week-long intrusions diary.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Results showed that attentional bias to negative information mediated the effect of heightened trait anxiety on elevated intrusion frequency. It was also revealed that heightened trait anxiety was associated with elevated intrusion-related distress, though attentional bias to negative information did not mediate this relationship.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Our sample was comprised of undergraduate students who were not selected based on a previous pathology. Replication in clinical samples is warranted.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>These findings provide new insight regarding individual differences in the experience of intrusions and suggest that both the frequency and distress associated with intrusions could represent clinical targets.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 101894"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10156393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Metacognitive monitoring in schizotypy: Systematic literature review and new empirical data","authors":"Mirko Lehmann,&nbsp;Ulrich Ettinger","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101891","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101891","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p><span>Deficits in metacognition, the ability to monitor one's own mental states, are key elements of the functional pathology of schizophrenia spectrum disorders<span>. Little is known, however, about the integrity of metacognitive processes<span><span> in subclinical schizotypy. The purpose of the present investigation was two-fold: First, we conducted a </span>preregistered, </span></span></span>systematic literature review<span> to synthesize previous research efforts on the role of metacognition in schizotypy. Second, we investigated the relationship between self-reported dimensions of schizotypy and psychometric as well as behavioral measures of metacognition in a preregistered online study.</span></p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A large sample (<em>N</em><span> = 330) completed a questionnaire battery and an episodic memory experiment; task-based metacognition was tapped via trial-by-trial confidence ratings.</span></p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>In keeping with findings from our literature review, higher schizotypy was associated with diminished introspective insight and an overly self-referential and maladaptive metacognitive style in metacognition questionnaires. Importantly, low task-based metacognitive efficiency was predictive of high levels of cognitive disorganization, whereas task-related overconfidence (i.e., increased metacognitive bias) was linked with positive schizotypy.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Due to the comparatively small number of <em>k</em> = 20 studies meeting our inclusion criteria, the systematic literature review provides only preliminary indications for potential conclusions. Furthermore, control over potential disturbing influences in the experimental study was limited due to its online format.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Overall, we provide evidence for specific metacognitive deficits in schizotypy and discuss a potential continuity of preserved and impaired aspects of metacognitive monitoring along the psychosis continuum.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 101891"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10155894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Emotional interference and attentional control in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: The special case of neutral faces","authors":"Joana Grave ,&nbsp;Nuno Madeira ,&nbsp;Sofia Morais ,&nbsp;Paulo Rodrigues ,&nbsp;Sandra C. Soares","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101892","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101892","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD) are characterized by impaired emotion processing and attention. SSD patients are more sensitive to the presence of emotional distractors. But despite growing interest on the emotion-attention interplay, emotional interference in SSD is far from fully understood. Moreover, research to date has not established the link between emotional interference and attentional control in SSD. This study thus aimed to investigate the effects of facial expression and attentional control in SSD, by manipulating perceptual load.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Twenty-two SSD patients and 22 healthy controls performed a target-letter discrimination task with task-irrelevant angry, happy, and neutral faces. Target-letter was presented among homogenous (low load) or heterogenous (high load) distractor-letters. Accuracy and RT were analysed using (generalized) linear mixed-effect models.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Accuracy was significantly lower in SSD patients than controls, regardless of perceptual load and facial expression. Concerning RT, SSD patients were significantly slower than controls in the presence of neutral faces, but only at high load. No group differences were observed for angry and happy faces.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Heterogeneity of SSD, small sample size, lack of clinical control group, medication.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>One possible explanation is that neutral faces captured exogenous attention to a greater extent in SSD, thus challenging attentional control in perceptually demanding conditions. This may reflect abnormal processing of neutral faces in SSD. If replicated, these findings will help to understand the interplay between exogenous attention, attentional control, and emotion processing in SSD, which may unravel the mechanism underlying socioemotional dysfunction in SSD.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 101892"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10474904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of acceptance-based strategies on psychological responses to disorder-relevant stimuli in inpatients with obsessive–compulsive disorder: An experimental study","authors":"David R. Kolar ,&nbsp;Adrian Meule ,&nbsp;Eva M. Zisler ,&nbsp;Caroline Schwartz ,&nbsp;Ulrich Voderholzer","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101890","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101890","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Preliminary findings suggest that acceptance and commitment therapy-informed exposure therapy may be an effective treatment for obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). However, there is a lack of experimental studies that have examined immediate effects of acceptance-based strategies during exposure to disorder-relevant stimuli in persons with OCD.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Fifty-three inpatients (64% female) with OCD participated in an experimental study during which they were exposed to obsessive–compulsive washing-relevant pictures and were instructed to either passively view these pictures for 5 s (neutral condition), to accept their feelings (acceptance condition) or to intensify their feelings (exposure condition) for 90 s each.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The acceptance condition led to higher acceptance and lower unpleasantness of patients’ current feelings compared to the neutral condition and to lower strength of obsessions and urge to perform compulsions but only when compared to the exposure condition. Higher self-reported OCD symptom severity related to higher unpleasantness and strength of obsessions, particularly in the neutral condition.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Future studies need to test whether the current findings translate to other stimuli and other forms of obsessions and compulsions. Due to the short duration, the exposure condition might have only mimicked the early phase of exposure and response prevention.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Acceptance-based strategies during cue exposure immediately increase acceptance of and reduce unpleasant feelings. In line with the rationale of acceptance-based treatment approaches, which do not aim at immediate disorder-specific symptom reductions, effects on obsessions and compulsions may be more delayed or require repeated training sessions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 101890"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10474901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of virtual reality applications in the treatment of anxiety disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials","authors":"Dominik Schröder ,&nbsp;Kamil J. Wrona ,&nbsp;Frank Müller ,&nbsp;Stephanie Heinemann ,&nbsp;Florian Fischer ,&nbsp;Christoph Dockweiler","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101893","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101893","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and objectives</h3><p>Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental disorders worldwide. Virtual reality (VR) treatment approaches have increasingly been studied. Before clinical implementation, it is necessary to evaluate the treatment effect of VR applications. The objective is to evaluate the treatment effect of virtual reality applications in the treatment of anxiety disorders compared to conventional therapy.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A systematic literature review with meta-analysis was conducted. Four databases were used to identify randomized controlled trials published between April 2011 and April 2021 which compare VR applications with non-VR interventions or waiting lists. Study characteristics, pre- and post-treatment data were extracted. Hedges g was calculated as effect size. Primary outcome was anxiety symptoms.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Data from 17 studies from 827 participants was extracted. The studies examined specific phobia (n = 9), social anxiety disorder (n = 4), agoraphobia (n = 2) and panic disorder (n = 2). 16 out of 17 studies used head-mounted displays as VR application. A non-significant effect size with significant heterogeneity was observed in favor of the use of VR applications in anxiety symptoms (g, 0.33; 95%-CI, −0.20–0.87). Compared to passive control groups, VR applications are associated significant with lower anxiety symptoms (g, 1.29; 95%-CI, 0.68–1.90).</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>The study and patient characteristics varied between the individual studies which is reflected in a high statistical heterogeneity of the effect sizes.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The added value of VR applications over waiting-list or psychoeducation only control groups is obvious. VR applications can be used as part of the treatment of anxiety disorders, especially when conventional therapy is unavailable.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"81 ","pages":"Article 101893"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10456087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}