The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy in Reducing Symptoms of Social Avoidance and Distress in People with Social Anxiety Disorder

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) on reducing the symptoms of social avoidance and distress in people with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). This was semi-experimental study was a pre-test-post-test design with control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all students of Semnan University in the academic year of 2017-2018. Among them, 20 Students were selected by purposeful sampling and randomly assigned 10 subjects to the experimental group and 10 subjects to the control group. Students were screened for social anxiety disorder and diagnosis of other disorders from Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-4 (SCID-4) and Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN). The experimental group received individual VRET for 12 sessions, 30 minutes each week. Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS) was administered among the selected sample as pretest. VRET was performed in experimental group, and again, the questionnaires were administered among the participants as posttest. The results showed that VRET is effective in reducing social avoidance and distress symptoms in in people with SAD. The results showed the effectiveness of this therapeutic model on reducing the symptoms of social anxiety. This method can be used as a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of SAD and other same disorders.