The Therapeutic Lamp: Treating Small-Animal Phobias

Wrzesien, Maja; Alcañíz, Mariano; Botella, Cristina; Burkhardt, Jean‐Marie; Bretón-López, Juana; Ortega, Mario; Brotons, D. B.

doi:10.1109/mcg.2013.12

Cited by 41 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Importantly, the costs involved in the production of the environment are lower than in VR, which may increase the generalization of its use in clinical practice (for a review, see (Baus & Bouchard, 2014)). A few studies to date have employed AR techniques for stimuli delivery in anxiety disorders, namely in specific phobias such as spider phobia (Wrzesien, Burkhardt, Alcañiz, & Botella, 2011; Wrzesien et al., 2013) and cockroach phobia (C. Botella et al., 2011, 2010). In this later phobia, and after AR applied in a “one‐session therapy,” following the treatment protocol followed by (Öst, Salkovskis, & Hellström, 1991), the positive outcomes of the therapy persisted up to a 12‐month follow‐up period (Bretón‐López et al., 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this later phobia, and after AR applied in a “one‐session therapy,” following the treatment protocol followed by (Öst, Salkovskis, & Hellström, 1991), the positive outcomes of the therapy persisted up to a 12‐month follow‐up period (Bretón‐López et al., 2010). However, none of these studies assessed the physiological dimension of the fear responses, relying solely on self‐reports to evaluate the treatment efficacy, such as fear and avoidance scales (e.g., Juan et al., 2005), subjective units of discomfort (e.g., Wrzesien et al., 2013), and the behavior avoidance test (e.g., C. M. Botella et al., 2005). Smartphones have been successfully used to collect and process psychophysiological data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The feasibility of an augment reality system to study the psychophysiological correlates of fear‐related responses

et al. 2018

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BackgroundPrevious studies have successfully used augmented reality (AR) as an aid to exposure‐based treatments for anxiety disorders. However, to the best of our knowledge, none of these studies have measured the physiological correlates of the fear response, relying solely on self‐reports and behavioral avoidance tests.MethodsAs the physiological defensive reactivity pattern impacts on the treatment effectiveness, we tested the feasibility of an AR system integrated in a mobile and wearable device for assessing the psychophysiological mechanisms (heart rate) involved in fear responses in real‐life contexts. Specific phobia was used as a model given its prototypical defensive hyperreactivity toward the feared stimulus (spiders to spider phobics, in the current study).ResultsThe results showed that the stimuli presented using AR were able to induce physiological alterations in the participants, which were specific depending on the stimulus type (fear or neutral) and on the participants’ level of spider fear (phobic and control group). These physiological correlates of the fear response were reflected both in the intensity of heart rate (in relation to the baseline) and in the time needed to react and recover after the stimulus exposure. Finally, we tested a theoretical model that showed that the physiological responses of phobic individuals when facing their phobic stimulus only explained its own data.ConclusionsWe argue in favor of the system's feasibility at capturing and quantifying the physiological dimension of fear‐related responses, which may be of great value for diagnostic and treatment purposes in anxiety disorders, namely specific phobia.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The feasibility of an augment reality system to study the psychophysiological correlates of fear‐related responses

et al. 2018

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“…Confronting the patient with inadequate therapeutic scenarios that impede the promotion of natural interaction. Affecting their level of anxiety and clinical outcome [1,29].…”

Section: Related Jobsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to high interactivity and appealing way to confront virtual animals (feared animals) in a real environment [1].…”

Section: Related Jobsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interactive multiplatform software to mitigate arachnophobia through augmented reality

Plasencia¹,

Escobar-Sánchez²

2018

KEG

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Augmented Reality (RA) is a technology that mixes physical reality with virtual elements, resulting in mixed reality in real time. He is currently widely accepted for his ease of adaptation in human activities. Superimposing data and digital information in a real environment for educational, commercial, social, therapeutic, industrial, among others. The objective of this research is to develop an interactive software to mitigate arachnophobia by using the engine and graphic editor of Unity Games, focusing on augmented reality. In this project the agile scrum methodology was used.Because it is based on incremental development. Enabling application requirements and development to be flexible for patients and developers. Obtained as a result of a sample of 16 people, that 93.19% improved equal or greater than 50% in their level of anxiety and fear according to their score obtained in the test FSQ after using the proposed application. While 6.81% obtained a percentage lower than 50% because the use of the application was carried out in times less than 20 minutes per day, causing no significant changes.

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Virtual reality for the enhancement of emotion regulation

Colombo

Díaz-García

Fernández‐Álvarez

et al. 2021

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

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In recent decades, a growing body of literature has focused on emotion regulation (ER), which refers to the ability to implement strategies in order to modulate emotional responses and reach desirable goals. To date, impaired ER (i.e., emotion dysregulation) has been identified as a transdiagnostic factor across a wide range of psychopathological conditions, which shows the importance of improving patients' ability to regulate negative and positive emotions in clinical practice. In addition to the increasing evidence showing its efficacy in the treatment of several clinical conditions, virtual reality (VR) has recently emerged as a potentially powerful tool for enhancing ER, thus breaking new ground in the development of cutting-edge transdiagnostic interventions. In the present narrative review, we will provide an overview of the existing evidence about VR-based interventions in the field of ER, emphasizing the promising findings and the barriers that still have to be addressed. To this aim, the available VR-based literature will be analysed in relation to four categories of ER strategies: situational strategies, attentional strategies, cognitive strategies, and response modulation strategies. Furthermore, new emerging fields of research targeting innovative aspects of ER will be highlighted, including the use of VR to promote positive emotions and interpersonal ER skills. Besides, its cost-effectiveness will be discussed, taking into account the costs for both developers (e.g., clinicians and researchers) and end-users. Finally, future directions in this promising field of research will be outlined.

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The Therapeutic Lamp: Treating Small-Animal Phobias

Cited by 41 publications

References 5 publications

The feasibility of an augment reality system to study the psychophysiological correlates of fear‐related responses

The feasibility of an augment reality system to study the psychophysiological correlates of fear‐related responses

Interactive multiplatform software to mitigate arachnophobia through augmented reality

Virtual reality for the enhancement of emotion regulation

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