Virtual reality-based psychotherapy in social anxiety disorder: an fMRI study using a self-referential task
Hur J , Shin H , Jung D , Lee H , Lee S , Kim GJ , Cho C , Choi S , Lee S , Cho C
Virtual reality-based psychotherapy in social anxiety disorder: an fMRI study using a self-referential task
JMIR Ment Health 2021; 8(4): e25731
Commentary
The purpose of this study was to identify changes in self-referential processing and its neural mechanisms after virtual reality treatment for individuals with social anxiety disorder.
Subjects were recruited regardless of their primary diagnosis of social anxiety disorder and were required to undergo a clinical evaluation and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan.
As a result, of the 25 individuals with social anxiety disorder who participated in the study, 21 completed the session and follow-up. 22 served as controls, and whole-brain analysis revealed that participants in the social anxiety disorder group, compared to participants in the control group, showed increased neural responses during positive self-referential processing in the medial temporal cortex and frontal cortex. increased neural responses during positive self-referential processing in the medial temporal cortex and frontal cortex.
They also showed increased activation in the left insula and decreased activation in the right middle frontal gyrus during negative self-referential processing. After the virtual reality-based treatment, participants with social anxiety disorder showed reduced symptoms and greater activity in brain regions involved in self-referential and autobiographical memory processes while viewing positive words during post-intervention fMRI scans.
Interestingly, these results showed that the greater the blood oxygen level-dependent changes associated with positive self-referential processing, the lower the tendency to ruminate on negative events and the lower the social anxiety after the virtual reality session.
