A meta-analytic examination of attrition in virtual reality exposure therapy for anxiety disorders.

A proposed advantage of virtual reality exposure therapy for anxiety disorders is that people will be less likely to drop out of treatment prematurely if the treatment involves facing one's fear in a virtual world rather than the real world, but this has yet to be empirically tested. The present meta-analyses assess the odds of dropout from virtual reality exposure therapy compared to in vivo exposure therapy, estimate the overall rate of dropout from virtual reality exposure treatment, and test potential moderating variables. The odds ratio meta-analysis indicated that there was no significant difference in the likelihood of attrition from virtual reality exposure therapy relative to in vivo exposure therapy.

Deterioration rates in Virtual Reality Therapy: An individual patient data level meta-analysis.

Ample evidence supports the use of Virtual Reality (VR) for anxiety disorders. Nonetheless, currently there is no evidence about moderators or potential negative effects of VR treatment strategies. An Individual Patient Data (IPD) approach was employed with 15 retrieved datasets.

Brooding deficits in memory: focusing attention improves subsequent recall.

Ruminative habits of thought about one's problems and the resulting consequences are correlated with symptoms of depression and cognitive biases (Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco, & Lyubomirsky, 2008). In our orienting task, brooders and non-brooders concentrated on self-focusing phrases while they were also exposed to neutral target words. On each trial in the unfocused condition, participants saw and then reported the target before concentrating on the phrase; in the focused condition, the target was reported after phrase concentration.