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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health

Date Submitted: Jul 27, 2023
Date Accepted: Nov 7, 2023

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

The Efficacy and Therapeutic Alliance of Augmented Reality Exposure Therapy in Treating Adults With Phobic Disorders: Systematic Review

Alhaj H, Hasan S, Hassoulas A

The Efficacy and Therapeutic Alliance of Augmented Reality Exposure Therapy in Treating Adults With Phobic Disorders: Systematic Review

JMIR Ment Health 2023;10:e51318

DOI: 10.2196/51318

PMID: 38032710

PMCID: 10722365

The efficacy and therapeutic alliance of augmented reality exposure therapy in treating adults with phobic disorders: A systematic review

  • Hamid Alhaj; 
  • Safa Hasan; 
  • Athanasios Hassoulas

ABSTRACT

Background:

Phobic Disorders are characterised by excessive fear of a stimulus that can affect the quality of patients’ 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.

Objective:

This systematic review investigated the novel technology's efficacy, cost-efficacy, and therapeutic alliance in treating adults with phobia.

Methods:

An extensive search was conducted using four major databases (Medline, Psych-info, Embase, and Scopus) using a comprehensive list of synonyms for augmented reality exposure therapy and phobic disorders. The search targeted any randomised control trial (RCT) testing augmented reality exposure therapy (ARET) in adults with phobic disorders up to the 8th of August 2022.

Results:

A 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-time effect than IVET, with the ability to put the patients in more situations to face the feared object.

Conclusions:

The current data suggest clinically significant efficacy and a promising therapeutic alliance of ARET. However, no data is 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.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Alhaj H, Hasan S, Hassoulas A

The Efficacy and Therapeutic Alliance of Augmented Reality Exposure Therapy in Treating Adults With Phobic Disorders: Systematic Review

JMIR Ment Health 2023;10:e51318

DOI: 10.2196/51318

PMID: 38032710

PMCID: 10722365

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