Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Virtual Reality Combination in a Case of Social Phobia

In this study, examined the effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in a social phobia case. Furthermore, this study aims to increase the awareness of Virtual Reality as a psychotherapy tool for mental health professionals in Turkey and also aims to analyze the effectiveness of the treatment. It participated in the study a 32-year-old male with clinical signs of social phobia. The treatment was conducted by a clinical psychologist who has Virtual Reality training. During the treatment, the therapist used two assessment sessions followed by four sessions of standard CBT protocols after which the therapist used Virtual Reality Exposure therapy protocol for social phobia. At the end of the Virtual Reality sessions based on CBT, the patient’s anxiety score decreased and the coping capacity increased in social phobic situations in real-life conditions. The change in the treatment process was also evaluated with the Beck Anxiety Scale and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, and a significant decrease in anxiety scores was observed. The results show that the use of VR for exposure in the CBT can reduce social phobia and must be further evaluation of the effectiveness of VR.