Instituto de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Braz J Psychiatry. 2018 Feb 15;40(2):192-199. doi: 10.1590/1516-4446-2017-2270. Print 2018 Mar-Apr.
To investigate the reactions of women with driving phobia to a therapeutic program of scheduled virtual reality exposure treatment (VRET) sessions.
The study intervention consisted of a computer game with car-driving scenarios that included several traffic situations. We investigated the participants' sense of presence, subjective distress, and physiological responses during eight virtual-reality exposures. We also evaluated clinical characteristics, driving cognitions, and quality of life in the participants.
Thirteen women were selected. Eight were able to complete the protocol. After VRET, there was a decrease in the frequency of distorted thoughts and state anxiety scores, as well as a slight improvement in quality of life. Subjective discomfort scores, heart rate variation, and sense of presence scores confirmed that there was sense of presence in the virtual reality environment.
All patients showed some degree of improvement and demonstrated different levels of anxiety in subsequent in vivo driving experiences. Our findings suggest that VRET could be used to facilitate in vivo exposure, because it can induce presence/immersion and reduce anxiety in patients with specific phobia. Furthermore, VRET is not associated with any type of risk.
研究驾驶恐惧症女性对预定虚拟现实暴露治疗（VRET）疗程的治疗方案的反应。
研究干预措施包括一个带有驾驶场景的电脑游戏，其中包括几种交通情况。我们在八次虚拟现实暴露期间调查了参与者的存在感、主观不适和生理反应。我们还评估了参与者的临床特征、驾驶认知和生活质量。
选择了 13 名女性。其中 8 人能够完成方案。VRET 后，扭曲思维的频率和状态焦虑评分下降，生活质量略有改善。主观不适评分、心率变化和存在感评分证实了虚拟现实环境中的存在感。
所有患者均显示出一定程度的改善，并在随后的现场驾驶体验中表现出不同程度的焦虑。我们的发现表明，VRET 可用于促进现场暴露，因为它可以在患有特定恐惧症的患者中引起存在/沉浸感并降低焦虑。此外，VRET 没有任何类型的风险。
