Wald Jaye, Taylor Steven
Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Cyberpsychol Behav. 2003 Oct;6(5):459-65. doi: 10.1089/109493103769710488.
This article presents a review of preliminary research of two studies of the efficacy of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) to treat driving phobia. Study 1 describes a case study of a patient who completed a 7-day baseline followed by three sessions of VRET. Her peak anxiety decreased within and across sessions. At the post-treatment assessment, her phobic-related symptoms had diminished and she no longer met diagnostic criteria for driving phobia. Clinical improvement was maintained at 1-, 3-, and 7-month follow-up. In study 2, a multiple baseline across-subjects design was used to treat five patients over eight weekly VRET sessions. Visual and statistical analyses showed clear improvement in driving anxiety and avoidance in three patients between pre- and post-treatment assessments, and they no longer met criteria for driving phobia. There was marginal improvement in one patient, and the remaining individual showed no treatment gains. There was negligible change in actual driving frequency for any of the patients. Some gains were lost at the follow-up, particularly for the two individuals with poorer treatment responses. The results from these preliminary studies suggest that VRET may be a promising intervention for treating driving phobia. Avenues for improving treatment outcome are discussed.
本文对两项虚拟现实暴露疗法（VRET）治疗驾驶恐惧症疗效的初步研究进行了综述。研究1描述了一个案例，一名患者先进行了7天的基线测试，随后接受了三次VRET治疗。她在各次治疗期间及治疗后焦虑峰值均有所下降。在治疗后评估中，她与恐惧相关的症状有所减轻，不再符合驾驶恐惧症的诊断标准。在1个月、3个月和7个月的随访中，临床改善情况得以维持。在研究2中，采用多基线被试间设计，对5名患者进行了为期8周的VRET治疗。视觉分析和统计分析表明，三名患者在治疗前和治疗后的评估中，驾驶焦虑和回避行为有明显改善，不再符合驾驶恐惧症的标准。一名患者有轻微改善，其余患者未显示出治疗效果。所有患者的实际驾驶频率变化可忽略不计。在随访中，部分改善效果有所丧失，尤其是治疗反应较差的两名患者。这些初步研究结果表明，VRET可能是治疗驾驶恐惧症的一种有前景的干预方法。文中还讨论了改善治疗效果的途径。
