Ramona MOLDOVAN*1 & Daniel DAVID1, 2
1 Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2 Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA
Abstract
This randomized clinical trial aimed to investigate the efficacy of one session treatment of VRCBT (cognitive behavioral therapy combined with virtual reality) for patients with social phobia, flight phobia and acrophobia. Additionally we concentrated on investigating if and to what extent do working alliance, patients’ expectations and therapists’ performance contribute to this change. Our preliminary results include data from a sample of 32 participants diagnosed with social phobia (N = 15), flight phobia (N = 9) and acrophobia (N = 8) who were randomly assigned to either immediate treatment or WL control group. Results indicated no significant differences between the two groups. Significant differences were shown between pre- and post-treatment for the majority of the measures used. Patients’ expectations, working alliance and therapists’ performance proved to be predictors of change.
Keywords: one session treatment, social phobia, specific phobia, virtual reality, cognitive and behavioral therapy.
