Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for PTSD

Expert treatment guidelines and consensus statements identified imaginal exposure therapy as a first-line treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) more than a decade ago. Subsequently, an Institute of Medicine report concluded that cognitive–behavioral therapy with exposure therapy is the only therapy with sufficient evidence to recommend it for PTSD. Imaginal exposure has been the most widely used exposure approach. It requires patients to recall and narrate their traumatic experience repeatedly, in progressively greater detail, both to facilitate the therapeutic processing of related emotions and to decondition the learning cycle of the disorder via a habituation–extinction process. Prolonged exposure, one of the best-evidenced forms of exposure therapy, incorporates psychoeducation, controlled breathing techniques, in vivo exposure, prolonged imaginal exposure to traumatic memories, and processing of traumatic material, typically for 9 to 12 therapy sessions of about 90 minutes each. However, avoidance of reminders of the trauma is a defining feature of PTSD, so it is not surprising that many patients are unwilling or unable to visualize effectively and recount traumatic events repeatedly. Some studies of imaginal exposure have reported 30% to 50% dropout rates before completion of treatment. Adding to the challenge, some patients have an aversion to “traditional” psychotherapy as well as to pharmacotherapy, and may find alternative approaches more appealing. Younger individuals in particular may be attracted to virtual reality-based therapies.