A Systematic Review of Virtual Reality Treatment Program on Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Purpose: The aims of this systematic review were to identify the study protocol of Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT) and review the effect of VRT among patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Methods: This review followed the guideline of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). A systematic literature search was conducted using 12 electronic databases including gray literature with no limit of publication year. Search terms included relevant terms regarding “PTSD”, “trauma”, and “VRT”. Among 265 studies extracted through PRISMA, 20 studies were selected and evaluated for quality assessment using the Risk of Bias tool of Cochrane’s collaboration. Results: The majority of the literature focused on combat veterans and war situations (95%).Usually, each session usually took 60~120 minutes of VRT in 10~20 sessions for 5~10 weeks. The VRT equipment and contents were individually designed considering patients’ traumatic experiences. Most of the studies reported the positive effects associated to reduced levels of PTSD (80%) and related symptoms, such as, depression (45%) and anxiety (25%). Conclusion: Based on our findings, further studies are required to evaluate VRT in people with PTSD, after improving study design and standardizing protocols.