Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Depress Anxiety. 2012 Feb;29(2):85-93. doi: 10.1002/da.20910. Epub 2011 Nov 7.
Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is a promising intervention for the treatment of the anxiety disorders. The main objective of this meta-analysis is to compare the efficacy of VRET, used in a behavioral or cognitive-behavioral framework, with that of the classical evidence-based treatments, in anxiety disorders. A comprehensive search of the literature identified 23 studies (n = 608) that were included in the final analysis. The results show that in the case of anxiety disorders, (1) VRET does far better than the waitlist control; (2) the post-treatment results show similar efficacy between the behavioral and the cognitive behavioral interventions incorporating a virtual reality exposure component and the classical evidence-based interventions, with no virtual reality exposure component; (3) VRET has a powerful real-life impact, similar to that of the classical evidence-based treatments; (4) VRET has a good stability of results over time, similar to that of the classical evidence-based treatments; (5) there is a dose-response relationship for VRET; and (6) there is no difference in the dropout rate between the virtual reality exposure and the in vivo exposure. Implications are discussed.
虚拟现实暴露疗法（VRET）是一种有前途的治疗焦虑症的干预方法。本荟萃分析的主要目的是比较 VRET 的疗效，VRET 是在行为或认知行为框架中使用的，与焦虑症的经典循证治疗方法相比。对文献进行了全面搜索，确定了最终分析中包含的 23 项研究（n=608）。结果表明，在焦虑症的情况下：（1）VRET 远优于候补名单对照；（2）治疗后结果显示，结合虚拟现实暴露成分的行为和认知行为干预与不包含虚拟现实暴露成分的经典循证干预之间具有相似的疗效；（3）VRET 具有与经典循证治疗相似的现实生活中的强大影响；（4）VRET 的结果随时间具有良好的稳定性，与经典循证治疗相似；（5）VRET 存在剂量反应关系；（6）虚拟现实暴露与体内暴露之间的辍学率没有差异。讨论了其意义。
