JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Both depression and anxiety are common and debilitating mental disorders with severe negative repercussions at both the individual and societal level. Although virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as a safe and effective tool in the treatment of anxiety disorders, research on the therapeutic application of VR to treat depression is more limited.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to test whether a novel type of individualized VR (iVR) can be used to improve self-compassion and decrease depressive symptoms, and to evaluate the usability and acceptability of this approach, as rated by participants. The iVR system was designed and developed based on the feedback from an earlier study, with improved appearance and feel of the avatar as well as enhanced graphical quality.

Methods:

A total of 36 young adult participants were recruited from a university community social media site. Participants were aware that the study was investigating a treatment for depression but were not recruited based on suffering from depression. Participants were asked to complete two iVR sessions, spaced two weeks apart. At baseline, as well as upon completion of each iVR session, participants were asked to complete validated measures of self-compassion and depression. Upon completion of both iVR sessions, additional measures were administered to assess participants’ perceptions of the perceived usability and system acceptability of the iVR approach.

Results:

Self-compassion was assessed at the beginning of Session 1 (pre-intervention baseline) and at the end of session 1 (post intervention). Due to Covid-19 constraints, 13 participants were unable to complete the follow-up iVR session. Self-compassion was again assessed in these 23 participants at the conclusion of Session 2 (post-intervention). Within-group analyses revealed that self compassion was significantly increased both at the end of both Session 1 and Session 2 relative to baseline. There was also a non-significant trend for depressive symptoms to be lower at the conclusion of Session 2 relative to baseline. Both quantitative and qualitative participant data supported the iVR approach as being acceptable and usable.

Conclusions:

These data provide important preliminary evidence that iVR might be a useful tool to enhance self-compassion and reduce depressive symptoms and highlight the need for future randomized controlled trials in the future.