Advances in immersive virtual reality interventions for mental disorders: A new reality?

Chris N W Geraets*, Elise C D van der Stouwe, Roos Pot-Kolder, Wim Veling

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

81 Citations (Scopus)
394 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Immersive virtual reality (VR) has been identified as a potentially revolutionary tool for psychological interventions. This study reviews current advances in immersive VR-based therapies for mental disorders. VR has the potential to make psychiatric treatments better and more cost-effective and to make them available to a larger group of patients. However, this may require a new generation of VR therapeutic techniques that use the full potential of VR, such as embodiment, and self-led interventions. VR-based interventions are promising, but further well-designed studies are needed that use novel techniques and investigate efficacy, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of VR interventions compared with current treatments. This will be crucial for implementation and dissemination of VR in regular clinical practice.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)40-45
Number of pages6
JournalCurrent Opinion in Psychology
Volume41
Early online date13-Feb-2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct-2021

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