Virtual Reality for Addressing Depression and Anxiety: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Area of Science:

• Mental Health
• Psychiatry
• Digital Health

Background:

• Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly recognized for its therapeutic potential in mental health.
• Applications span various conditions, notably anxiety and depression.
• This study provides a bibliometric overview of VR's role in these areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a bibliometric analysis of research on virtual reality (VR) for anxiety and depression from 1995 to 2022.
• To identify key journals, authors, institutions, and research themes.
• To understand the current state and future trajectory of VR in mental health treatment.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of 1872 documents sourced from the Scopus database.
• Identification of influential journals, prolific authors, and leading institutions.
• Keyword, thematic, and intellectual structure analysis.

Main Results:

• The field is multidisciplinary, characterized by extensive collaborative research.
• Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine (most relevant) and Behavior Research and Therapy (most cited) are key journals.
• More research focuses on VR for anxiety than depression.
• Riva G. and the University of Washington are leading contributors.

Conclusions:

• VR applications for mental health, particularly anxiety and depression, represent a growing and collaborative research area.
• The analysis offers insights into dominant themes and future research directions.
• Further investigation into VR for depression is warranted.