Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Public Speaking Anxiety

Stockholm University23 enrolled

Overview

Virtual Reality exposure therapy (VRET) is an efficacious treatment for anxiety disorders but has yet to be implemented in regular care settings. This is arguably due to the limitations of the past generation of VR technology, which was expensive, inaccessible, cumbersome and hard to use. With the advent of consumer VR technology, VRET is now ready for implementation in regular care. This multiple-baseline trial will examine the effectiveness of VRET for public speaking anxiety (PSA) when delivered under real-world conditions at an ordinary, non-specialized mental health clinic, by clinical psychologist with only brief VRET training. Participants will either be self-referred specifically for this treatment, or come through ordinary clinical channels. Self-rated PSA will serve as primary outcome measure and will be measured three times prior to treatment (at screening and twice after a diagnostic screening telephone interview) , four times after onset, at the end of the treatment period, and three months after treatment.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Public Speaking Social Anxiety Social Anxiety Disorder, Performance Only

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Have substantial public speaking anxiety (PSAS \>= 60) * Can travel to PBM clinic on one occasion and pay stipulated patient fee * Can speak and understand sufficient Swedish * Have stable access to the internet 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

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change from baseline: Public Speaking Anxiety Scale

Canonical total score will be used. Measure is self-rated, online. Swedish translation of the original PSAS (Bartholomay \& Houlihan, 2016)

Time frame: Change from baseline: (1) five days after interview, (2) ten days after interview, (3) 7 days post-OST, (4) 14 days post-OST (5) 21 days post-OST (6) 28 days post-OST, (7) 35 days post-OST, (8) 125 days post-PST