Trial reportTrials2016
Single-session gamified virtual reality exposure therapy for spider phobia vs. traditional exposure therapy: study protocol for a randomized controlled non-inferiority trial.
Trial report in Trials, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 37 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Single-session Gamified Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Spider Phobia vs. Traditional Exposure Therapy: a Randomized Controlled Non-inferiority Trial
Development of Intelligent Virtual Reality Therapy System (IVRTS) and Testing Its Clinical Efficacy: Revolutionizing Evidence-Based Psychotherapy
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 139 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of virtual reality therapy in the treatment of anxiety disorders in adolescents and adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- A Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Virtual Reality and In Vivo Exposure Therapy as Psychological Interventions for Public Speaking Anxiety.Behavior modification · 2022Pooled it
- Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Armed Forces Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review and Focus Group.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Inferiority or Even Superiority of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy in Phobias?-A Systematic Review and Quantitative Meta-Analysis on Randomized Controlled Trials Specifically Comparing the Efficacy of Virtual Reality Exposure to Gold StandardFrontiers in psychology · 2019Pooled it
- The effectiveness of virtual reality based interventions for symptoms of anxiety and depression: A meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2018Pooled it
- Recent Progress in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Phobias: A Systematic Review.Current psychiatry reports · 2017Pooled it
- Physical Versus Virtual Reality-Based Calm Rooms for Psychiatric Inpatients: Quasi-Randomized Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Virtual Reality Tour to Reduce Perioperative Anxiety in an Operating Setting Before Anesthesia: Randomized Clinical Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Trial
- The Role of Temporality in Virtual Reality Interventions for Depressive Episodes-A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Exploring Mexican psychotherapist's attitudes towards knowledge and use of serious games in clinical practice.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Barriers to adopting therapeutic virtual reality: the perspective of clinical psychologists and psychotherapists.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Virtual stressors with real impact: what virtual reality-based biobehavioral research can teach us about typical and atypical stress responsivity.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
- Desensitizing Anxiety Through Imperceptible Change: Feasibility Study on a Paradigm for Single-Session Exposure Therapy for Fear of Public Speaking.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Looking fear in the eye: Gamified virtual reality exposure towards spiders for children using attention based feedback.Clinical child psychology and psychiatry · 2024Article
- A Smartphone-Gamified Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy Augmented With Biofeedback for Ailurophobia: Development and Evaluation Study.JMIR serious games · 2024Article
- Virtual Reality exposure therapy in the treatment of public speaking anxiety and social anxiety disorder.Neuroscience applied · 2024Review
- Virtual reality-based cognitive-behavioural therapy for the treatment of anxiety in patients with acute myocardial infarction: a randomised clinical trial.General psychiatry · 2024Article
- Article
- Extended reality for biomedicine.Nature reviews. Methods primers · 2023Article
- Electrophysiological correlates of in vivo and virtual reality exposure therapy in spider phobia.Psychophysiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTraditional one-session exposure therapy (OST) in which a patient is gradually exposed to feared stimuli for up to 3 h in a one-session format has been found effective for the treatment of specific phobias. However, many individuals with specific phobia are reluctant to seek help, and access to care is lacking due to logistic challenges of accessing, collecting, storing, and/or maintaining stimuli. Virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy may improve upon existing techniques by facilitating access, decreasing cost, and increasing acceptability and effectiveness. The aim of this study is to compare traditional OST with in vivo spiders and a human therapist with a newly developed single-session gamified VR exposure therapy application with modern VR hardware, virtual spiders, and a virtual therapist. METHODS/
designParticipants with specific phobia to spiders (N = 100) will be recruited from the general public, screened, and randomized to either VR exposure therapy (n = 50) or traditional OST (n = 50). A behavioral approach test using in vivo spiders will serve as the primary outcome measure. Secondary outcome measures will include spider phobia questionnaires and self-reported anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Outcomes will be assessed using a non-inferiority design at baseline and at 1, 12, and 52 weeks after treatment. DISCUSSION: VR exposure therapy has previously been evaluated as a treatment for specific phobias, but there has been a lack of high-quality randomized controlled trials. A new generation of modern, consumer-ready VR devices is being released that are advancing existing technology and have the potential to improve clinical availability and treatment effectiveness. The VR medium is also particularly suitable for taking advantage of recent phobia treatment research emphasizing engagement and new learning, as opposed to physiological habituation. This study compares a market-ready, gamified VR spider phobia exposure application, delivered using consumer VR hardware, with the current gold standard treatment. Implications are discussed.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02533310. Registered on 25 August 2015.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.