Yonsei medical journal
-
Yonsei medical journal · Jan 2025
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyVirtual Reality-Based Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder: An Alternative to Pharmacotherapy for Reducing Suicidality.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has long been recognized as an effective treatment for depression and suicidality. Virtual reality (VR) technology is widely used for cognitive training for conditions such as anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, but little research has considered VR-based CBT for depressive symptoms and suicidality. We tested the effectiveness and safety of a VR-based CBT program for depressive disorders. ⋯ VR CBT treatment for major depressive disorder has the potential to be equivalent to the gold-standard pharmacotherapy in reducing depressive symptoms, suicidality, and related clinical symptoms, with no difference in improvement found in this study. Thus, VR-based CBT might be an effective alternative to pharmacotherapy for depressive disorders.