Search results for "exposure therapy"
showing 10 items of 21 documents
Changes in negative implicit evaluations in patients of hypochondriasis after treatment with cognitive therapy or exposure therapy
2015
Abstract Background and Objectives Previous studies using modified versions of the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP; Payne, Cheng, Govorun, & Stewart, 2005) have revealed that there is an implicit negative evaluation bias of illness-related information in patients with hypochondriasis (HYP), which might be a maintaining feature of HYP. However, there is no evidence on whether this bias might be targeted successfully by effective treatments, such as exposure therapy (ET) or cognitive therapy (CT). This is the first study to examine the change in negative implicit evaluations in a randomized controlled trial, including individual CT and ET, compared to a wait-list control group for HYP. M…
Virtual reality versus computer-aided exposure treatments for fear of flying
2011
Evidence is growing that two modalities of computer-based exposure therapies—virtual reality and computer-aided psychotherapy—are effective in treating anxiety disorders, including fear of flying. However, they have not yet been directly compared. The aim of this study was to analyze the efficacy of three computer-based exposure treatments for fear of flying: virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), computer-aided exposure with a therapist’s (CAE-T) assistance throughout exposure sessions, and self-administered computer-aided exposure (CAE-SA). A total of 60 participants with flying phobia were randomly assigned to VRET, CAE-T, or CAE-SA. Results indicate that the three interventions were …
Virtual reality treatment of flying phobia.
2002
Flying phobia (FP) might become a very incapacitating and disturbing problem in a person's social, working, and private areas. Psychological interventions based on exposure therapy have proved to be effective, but given the particular nature of this disorder they bear important limitations. Exposure therapy for FP might be excessively costly in terms of time, money, and efforts. Virtual reality (VR) overcomes these difficulties as different significant environments might be created, where the patient can interact with what he or she fears while in a totally safe and protected environment, the therapist's consulting room. This paper intends, on one hand, to show the different scenarios desig…
Therapist competence and therapeutic alliance are important in the treatment of health anxiety (hypochondriasis)
2015
The role of treatment delivery factors (i.e., therapist adherence, therapist competence, and therapeutic alliance) is rarely investigated in psychotherapeutic treatment for health anxiety. This study aimed to investigate the role of the assessment perspective for the evaluation of treatment delivery factors and their relevance for treatment outcome. Therapist adherence, therapist competence, and therapeutic alliance were evaluated by independent raters, therapists, patients, and supervisors in 68 treatments. Patients with severe health anxiety (hypochondriasis) were treated with cognitive therapy or exposure therapy. Treatment outcome was assessed with a standardized interview by independen…
Exposure therapy changes dysfunctional evaluations of somatic symptoms in patients with hypochondriasis (health anxiety). A randomized controlled tri…
2015
Dysfunctional evaluations of somatic symptoms are considered a central factor in maintaining hypochondriasis. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether exposure therapy (ET) without cognitive restructuring is sufficient to change dysfunctional evaluations of somatic symptoms. The current study was based on a randomized controlled trial and compared patients with hypochondriasis (N=73) receiving ET or cognitive therapy (CT) to a wait list (WL) control group. In both the ET and CT groups, dysfunctional symptom evaluations changed significantly compared with the WL group. No differences between the ET and CT groups emerged. The relationship between the treatment condition (active…
Virtual reality exposure and imaginal exposure in the treatment of fear of flying: a pilot study
2013
Fear of flying (FF) is an impairing psychological disorder that is extremely common in developed countries. The most effective treatment for this particular type of phobia is exposure therapy. However, there are few studies comparing imaginal exposure (IE) and virtual reality (VR) exposure for the treatment of FF. The present study compared the effectiveness of these two approaches using two manualized interventions based on the exposure technique. Patients with FF ( N = 15) were randomly assigned to either VR ( n = 7) or IE therapy ( n = 8), consisting of a total of eight sessions: two assessment sessions (pre-treatment and after the real flight) and six exposure therapy sessions, which w…
An adaptive display for the treatment of diverse trauma PTSD victims.
2009
El trastorno de estrés postraumático (TEPT) puede desarrollarse después de la exposición a un evento aterrador. Las personas que sufren de trastorno de estrés postraumático presentan hiperactividad y evitación, y experimentan síntomas que provocan angustia y deterioro en áreas de vida significativas. Los programas de comportamiento cognitivo, incluida la terapia de exposición, son actualmente el tratamiento de elección para el TEPT. Aunque estos programas son eficaces, hay margen de mejora; La utilización de la terapia de exposición por los médicos es baja y las tasas de desgaste son altas. La aplicación de nuevas tecnologías, especialmente la realidad virtual (VR), podría ayudar a superar …
Effects of post-extinction l-DOPA administration on the spontaneous recovery and reinstatement of fear in a human fMRI study
2015
Relapse is a pertinent problem in the treatment of anxiety disorders. In the laboratory, relapse is modeled as return of conditioned fear responses after successful fear extinction and is explained by insufficient retrieval and/or expression of the fear-inhibitory extinction memory that is generated during extinction learning. We have shown in mice and humans that return of fear can be prevented by administration of a single dose of the dopamine precursor l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) immediately after extinction. In mice, this effect could be attributed to an enhancement of extinction memory consolidation. In our human study, we could not exclude that l-DOPA might have acted by int…
Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy supported by virtual reality in the treatment of body image in eating disorders: One year follow-up
2013
Body image disturbance is a significant maintenance and prognosis factor in eating disorders. Hence, existing eating disorder treatments can benefit from direct intervention in patients' body image. No controlled studies have yet compared eating disorder treatments with and without a treatment component centered on body image. This paper includes a controlled study comparing Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT) for eating disorders with and without a component for body image treatment using Virtual Reality techniques. Thirty-four participants diagnosed with eating disorders were evaluated and treated. The clinical improvement was analyzed from statistical and clinical points of view. Result…
Virtual reality treatment of claustrophobia: a case report.
1998
The efficacy of a treatment for claustrophobia using only Virtual Reality (VR) exposure was examined. The subject was a 43-year-old female who suffered from clinically significant distress and impairment and sought psychological therapy. Eight individual VR graded exposure sessions were conducted. All self-report measures were reduced following VR exposure and were maintained at one month follow-up. The necessity of a theoretical framework for this new medium for exposure therapy is discussed.