Convenient virtual reality exposure self-training for social anxiety: a randomized controlled study

Abstract

People with social anxiety (SA) experience emotions that are disproportionate to the objective threat when facing social situations where they might be scrutinized by others. Virtual reality exposure (VRE) therapy has now been explored as a novel and cost-effective mode of psychological treatment, however, less previous randomized controlled trial has examined whether self-help VRE training using convenient appliances can effectively decrease SA symptoms with a long-term effect. Participants with high SA (n = 61) were randomly allocated to either an intervention group (n = 31) or a waiting list control group (n = 30). Mixed ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between TIME and GROUP for SA and negative emotion. Within-group analysis demonstrated that there was a significant reduction in measures from pre-intervention to post-intervention for the intervention group, however, the difference for the control group did not reach statistical significance. Additionally, participants in the intervention group showed significant improvements in SA symptoms, negative emotions and mental health state from pre-intervention to a one-month follow-up. These findings illustrate that self-help VRE training using convenient appliances is an efficacious way to significantly reduce SA and negative emotions, at least for one month.