ReviewJMIR mental health2023
The Efficacy and Therapeutic Alliance of Augmented Reality Exposure Therapy in Treating Adults With Phobic Disorders: Systematic Review.
Review in JMIR mental health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Glitches to growth: Lessons learned from developing and testing an augmented reality smartphone app for substance use treatment.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Trial
- Facing fear through play: A smartphone-based proof-of-concept intervention using inverted augmented reality.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Therapist-guided virtual reality exposure therapy for fear of heights: evidence from a multiple-baseline single-case experimental design.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Digital Psychiatry with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Recent Advances and Limitations.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Mental health in the virtual world: Are we ready for the metaverse era?World journal of methodology · 2024Article
- Augmented Reality as an Aid to Behavior Therapy for Anxiety Disorders: A Narrative Review.Cureus · 2024Review
- Mental health in the virtual world: Challenges and opportunities in the metaverse era.World journal of clinical cases · 2024Review
- Immersive Technologies for Depression Care: Scoping Review.JMIR mental health · 2024Article
- Using iVR to deliver optimal psychotherapy experience-current perspectives on VRET for acrophobia.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Mental health providers are inexperienced but interested in telehealth-based virtual reality therapy: survey study.Frontiers in virtual reality · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPhobic disorders are characterized by excessive fear of a stimulus that can affect the quality of a patient's life. The lifetime prevalence in adults is 7.7% to 12.5%. The current literature provides evidence-based inferences about the effectiveness of in-vivo exposure therapy (IVET) in treating phobia. However, this method can put the therapist and the client in danger, with high drop out and refusal rates. A newer approach for exposure therapy using augmented reality technology is under assessment.
objectiveThis systematic review investigated the novel technology's efficacy, cost-efficacy, and therapeutic alliance in treating adults with phobia.
methodsAn extensive search was conducted using 4 major databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, and Scopus) using a comprehensive list of synonyms for augmented reality exposure therapy (ARET) and phobic disorders. The search targeted any randomized control trial testing ARET in adults with phobic disorders up to August 8, 2022.
resultsA total of 6 studies were included, with 208 participants providing results. Studies investigating the efficacy of ARET compared to no intervention showed significant results (P<.05) in the ARET group improvement. Head-to-head comparative studies comparing ARET to IVET showed no significant difference (P>.05) in the effectiveness and therapeutic alliance between both therapies. Further, the results demonstrated that the ARET group had a better long-term effect than IVET, with the ability to put the patients in more situations to face the feared object.
conclusionsThe current data suggest clinically significant efficacy and a promising therapeutic alliance of ARET. However, no data are available investigating the cost-effectiveness of ARET. Further research is warranted to ascertain ARET's cost-effectiveness and examine its efficacy in other populations and anxiety conditions.
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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.