Kothgassner Oswald D, Felnhofer Anna
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
Neuropsychiatr. 2021 Jun;35(2):68-75. doi: 10.1007/s40211-020-00349-7. Epub 2020 May 5.
Anxiety disorders are one of the most prevalent mental disorders in children and adolescents which may effectively be treated by several forms of exposure therapy. An emerging approach to exposure is virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), but a literature search synthesis focusing specifically on the use of VRET in children and adolescents is still lacking. This systematic review sets out to provide an overview concerning VRET for the treatment of anxiety disorders in this age group. Four published trials covering an overall sample of 100 participants between the ages of 8 and 16 years were found during a systematic literature search and were included in the current review. Results reveal that participants show clinical improvements regarding anxiety symptoms after VRET. Nevertheless, the high potential of virtual reality as a tool for treating children and adolescents with anxiety disorders is contrasted by a considerable lack of controlled trials. Despite the evidence of VRET in adult samples, there is a need for more research with younger cohorts in order to be able to support this promising field of application.
焦虑症是儿童和青少年中最普遍的精神障碍之一，可通过多种形式的暴露疗法有效治疗。一种新兴的暴露方法是虚拟现实暴露疗法（VRET），但专门针对VRET在儿童和青少年中的应用的文献检索综述仍然缺乏。本系统综述旨在概述VRET用于治疗该年龄组焦虑症的情况。在系统的文献检索中发现了四项已发表的试验，涵盖了100名年龄在8至16岁之间的参与者的总体样本，并纳入了当前综述。结果显示，参与者在接受VRET后焦虑症状有临床改善。然而，虚拟现实作为治疗焦虑症儿童和青少年的工具的巨大潜力与对照试验的严重缺乏形成了对比。尽管有证据表明VRET在成人样本中有效，但仍需要对更年轻的队列进行更多研究，以便能够支持这一有前景的应用领域。
