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International Symposium on Pervasive Computing Paradigms for Mental Health

MindCare 2019: Pervasive Computing Paradigms for Mental Health pp 43–54Cite as

Virtual Reality for Anxiety and Stress-Related Disorders: A SWOT Analysis

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Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) Therapy has emerged in the 90s as an appealing way of delivering exposure treatment. Throughout these years, ample evidence has been published. Although there is an agreed consensus regarding its efficacy, currently a quick shift in the field is being experienced, especially due to the advent of off-the-shelf technology that is greatly facilitating its dissemination. In this context, theoretical discussions of the field appear as an important action in order to take stock of the mounting evidence that has been produced and the main challenges for the coming future. To stimulate the discussion in a burgeoning field, a SWOT analysis is proposed, which may help to map the field of VR therapy for anxiety and stress-related disorders. Overall, it is undoubted that VR appears as a well-established technology for the treatment of ASRD and the main challenges are in line with the possibility of hurdling the same obstacles that the whole field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy has to deal with: How to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network AffecTech (project ID: 722022) funded by the European Commission H2020.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology of the Catholic University, Largo Gemelli 1, 20100, Milan, Italy

    Javier Fernández-Alvarez & Giuseppe Riva

  2. Department of Basic Psychology, Clinic and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain

    Desirée Colombo, Cristina Botella & Azucena García-Palacios

  3. CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición, Instituto Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    Cristina Botella & Azucena García-Palacios

  4. Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab at IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy

    Giuseppe Riva

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  1. Javier Fernández-Alvarez
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  2. Desirée Colombo
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  3. Cristina Botella
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  4. Azucena García-Palacios
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  5. Giuseppe Riva
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Correspondence to Javier Fernández-Alvarez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy

    Pietro Cipresso

  2. Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Silvia Serino

  3. Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy

    Daniela Villani

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Fernández-Alvarez, J., Colombo, D., Botella, C., García-Palacios, A., Riva, G. (2019). Virtual Reality for Anxiety and Stress-Related Disorders: A SWOT Analysis. In: Cipresso, P., Serino, S., Villani, D. (eds) Pervasive Computing Paradigms for Mental Health. MindCare 2019. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 288. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25872-6_4

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