CBT & ACT Virtual Reality Innovative Solutions in Treating Social Anxiety Disorder: A Pilot Study

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a prevalent mental health disorder characterized by a significant prevalence of 5% in recent years. Diverse therapeutic methods can be used to address social anxiety symptoms. Our study sets out to address the gap in literature in comparing two major therapeutic methods: CBT and ACT, respectively. Additionally, we used Virtual Reality (VR) methods to induce social anxiety in laboratory conditions to monitor scale-based progress as well as physiological indicators for all groups. The current paper conducts a 3-arm Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study which aims to compare the two therapeutic approaches via dedicated mobile applications. The main objective of the study is to compare the efficacy of the interventions in reducing social anxiety, including physiological symptoms. From the total number of randomized participants (N = 27, aged between 16 and 58, SD = 8.36), 22 completed the intervention, and displayed a significant decrease in social anxiety symptoms measured on LSAS-SR with a large effect size from pre- to post-measurements accompanied by significant changes in other variables assessed on a secondary note till follow-up, according to ANOVA. However, the results were not maintained in ITT analyses. ACT-informed digital interventions show potential benefits; however future rigorous trials considering limitations are necessary.