Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Speech Anxiety Using Commercial Hardware and Software (VRETORIK)

Stockholm University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Behavior Therapy; Social Phobia; Anxiety

Treatments: Behavioral: Face-to-face Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy; Behavioral: Internet-administered Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy; Other: Waiting-list

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03001154

VRetorik

Details and patient eligibility

About

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) is an efficacious treatment of fear and anxiety, but because of the high financial costs and technical complexity of the past generation of VR hardware, there has been no large-scale implementation of this promising treatment. The present study will investigate whether off-the-shelf, commercial VR hardware and software can be used as stimuli material to conduct in-session exposure therapy for speech anxiety. The study will recruit n=25+25 participants from the general public suffering from substantial speech anxiety, who will be randomized to either a waiting-list, or one-session VRET with a therapist, followed by four weeks of a progressive maintenance program encouraging in-vivo exposure. The waiting-list group will then receive an Internet-delivered VRET treatment program.

Enrollment: 50 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Substantial public speaking anxiety
• Have access to VR-compatible smartphone (including Internet)
• Can travel to Stockholm University for treatment on one occasion
• Can speak and understand sufficient Swedish

Exclusion criteria

• Deficits in sight or balance impacting the VR-experience
• A severe psychiatric disorder better treated elsewhere, including current major depression, alcohol or drug abuse, bipolarity, psychosis or similar
• Active psychopharmacological treatment, unless stable for last 3 months
• Other ongoing psychological treatment

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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50 participants in 2 patient groups

One-session VRET face-to-face

Experimental group

Description:

One-session Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy led by therapist (face-to-face), followed by a 4-week therapist-guided Internet-administered progressive maintenance program.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Face-to-face Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Waiting-list, then Internet-administered VRET

Experimental group

Description:

4-week waiting list, followed by therapist-guided, Internet-administered VRET with a 4-week progressive maintenance program.

Treatment:

Other: Waiting-list

Behavioral: Internet-administered Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy