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Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for Anxiety Due to Fear of COVID-19 Infection: A Case Series

Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is becoming popular for treating phobia and anxiety disorder. The recent pandemic of COVID-19 not only causes infection per se but also has an impact on mental health. This case series aimed to explore the role of VRET in the intervention of psychiatric illnes...

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Autores principales: Zhang, Wanling, Paudel, Dhirendra, Shi, Rui, Liang, Jie, Liu, Jingwen, Zeng, Xiansheng, Zhou, Yunfei, Zhang, Bin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7654305/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33192065
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S276203
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author Zhang, Wanling
Paudel, Dhirendra
Shi, Rui
Liang, Jie
Liu, Jingwen
Zeng, Xiansheng
Zhou, Yunfei
Zhang, Bin
author_facet Zhang, Wanling
Paudel, Dhirendra
Shi, Rui
Liang, Jie
Liu, Jingwen
Zeng, Xiansheng
Zhou, Yunfei
Zhang, Bin
author_sort Zhang, Wanling
collection PubMed
description Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is becoming popular for treating phobia and anxiety disorder. The recent pandemic of COVID-19 not only causes infection per se but also has an impact on mental health. This case series aimed to explore the role of VRET in the intervention of psychiatric illnesses with chief complaints of fear of COVID-19 infection. In vivo exposure therapy for fear of COVID-19 infection is not possible due to the risk of virus infection; in this scenario, the VRET provides an immersive experience and can act as adjunctive therapy for treating phobias and anxiety disorders arising due to novel coronavirus pandemic. Clinical presentation and findings as well as management and procedures of VRET are discussed. Medical record of three patients (two male and one female) at the Shenzhen Mental Health Center (Shenzhen Kangning Hospital), China, was included in the present case series. Patients were assessed with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Fear of COVID-19 Scale to measure anxiety and fear, respectively. Throughout VRET sessions, we gradually and systematically exposed the patient to virtual COVID-19 scenarios (for example, touching stained door handle which may have viruses, watching pandemic news, watching frontline health care workers, etc.). In our study, VRET intervention significantly reduced the related symptoms caused by fear of COVID-19 infection. Furthermore, virtual reality can provide relevant theoretical and practical support for exploring the remote psychological counseling of patients in isolation wards.
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spelling pubmed-76543052020-11-12 Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for Anxiety Due to Fear of COVID-19 Infection: A Case Series Zhang, Wanling Paudel, Dhirendra Shi, Rui Liang, Jie Liu, Jingwen Zeng, Xiansheng Zhou, Yunfei Zhang, Bin Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat Case Series Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is becoming popular for treating phobia and anxiety disorder. The recent pandemic of COVID-19 not only causes infection per se but also has an impact on mental health. This case series aimed to explore the role of VRET in the intervention of psychiatric illnesses with chief complaints of fear of COVID-19 infection. In vivo exposure therapy for fear of COVID-19 infection is not possible due to the risk of virus infection; in this scenario, the VRET provides an immersive experience and can act as adjunctive therapy for treating phobias and anxiety disorders arising due to novel coronavirus pandemic. Clinical presentation and findings as well as management and procedures of VRET are discussed. Medical record of three patients (two male and one female) at the Shenzhen Mental Health Center (Shenzhen Kangning Hospital), China, was included in the present case series. Patients were assessed with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Fear of COVID-19 Scale to measure anxiety and fear, respectively. Throughout VRET sessions, we gradually and systematically exposed the patient to virtual COVID-19 scenarios (for example, touching stained door handle which may have viruses, watching pandemic news, watching frontline health care workers, etc.). In our study, VRET intervention significantly reduced the related symptoms caused by fear of COVID-19 infection. Furthermore, virtual reality can provide relevant theoretical and practical support for exploring the remote psychological counseling of patients in isolation wards. Dove 2020-11-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7654305/ /pubmed/33192065 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S276203 Text en © 2020 Zhang et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).
spellingShingle Case Series
Zhang, Wanling
Paudel, Dhirendra
Shi, Rui
Liang, Jie
Liu, Jingwen
Zeng, Xiansheng
Zhou, Yunfei
Zhang, Bin
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for Anxiety Due to Fear of COVID-19 Infection: A Case Series
title Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for Anxiety Due to Fear of COVID-19 Infection: A Case Series
title_full Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for Anxiety Due to Fear of COVID-19 Infection: A Case Series
title_fullStr Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for Anxiety Due to Fear of COVID-19 Infection: A Case Series
title_full_unstemmed Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for Anxiety Due to Fear of COVID-19 Infection: A Case Series
title_short Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for Anxiety Due to Fear of COVID-19 Infection: A Case Series
title_sort virtual reality exposure therapy (vret) for anxiety due to fear of covid-19 infection: a case series
topic Case Series
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7654305/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33192065
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S276203
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