A VR-based multicomponent treatment for panic disorders with agoraphobia

Agoraphobia consists of a group of fears of public places such as going outside, using public transportation and being in public places, which cause serious interference in daily life. Many studies demonstrated the effectiveness of a multicomponent cognitive-behavioral treatment strategy for panic disorder with agoraphobia. The traditional protocol involves a mixture of cognitive and behavioral techniques which are intended to help patients identify and modify their dysfunctional anxiety-related thoughts, beliefs and behavior. Emphasis is placed on reversing the maintaining factors identified in the cognitive and behavioral patterns. We use Virtual Reality (VR) to support Panic Disorder treatment. The preliminary treatment protocol for Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia, named Experiential-Cognitive Therapy (ECT), was developed at the Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab of Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Verbania, Italy, in cooperation with the Psychology Department of the Catholic University of Milan, Italy. The actual version included the efforts of researchers from the Center for Advanced Multimedia Psychotherapy, California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego (CA), USA, and from the Seoul Paik Hospital, Inje University, Seoul, Korea. The goal of ECT is to decondition fear reactions, to modify misinterpretational cognition related to panic symptoms and to reduce anxiety symptoms. The characteristics of the approach will be presented through the description of the clinical protocol.