Comparison of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy and virtual reality exposure therapy on emotional regulation among adolescents with social anxiety disorder

The present compared the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and virtual reality exposure therapy on cognitive emotion regulation in students with social anxiety disorder. The study method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group and a one-month follow-up. The statistical population of the study included all the second-year high school students of Ghaemshahr schools in the academic year 2022-2023. A total of 51 eligible students were included in the study using a convenience sampling method and were randomly divided into 2 intervention groups and 1 control group (17 people in each group). The first and second experimental groups, respectively, were cognitive-behavioral therapy and virtual reality exposure therapy during 12 and 8 sessions. The research tools were cognitive emotion regulation questionnaires (GERQ, Garnefski, & Kraaij, 2006). The data were analyzed by the method of analysis of variance with repeated measurements and Bonferroni’s post hoc test. The results revealed that both interventions of cognitive-behavioral therapy and virtual reality exposure therapy, compared to the control group, significantly increased adapted emotion regulation and decreased maladapted emotion regulation (P<0.01). Also, the effect of both intervention methods was maintained until the one-month follow-up stage. Also, cognitive-behavioral therapy was more effective compared to virtual reality exposure therapy (P> 0.01). The results of the study revealed the priority of using cognitive-behavioral therapy compared to virtual reality exposure therapy to improve cognitive emotion regulation by child and adolescent therapists.