Abstract
BackgroundTechnological developments such as Virtual reality (VR) provide new opportunities to extend and innovate mental healthcare. VR as a tool for clinical assessment has been described as promising, as it can enable real-time assessment within real-like environments or contexts as opposed to self-report and behavioral tasks in laboratory settings.ObjectiveWith this systematic review we aimed to provide an overview of recent studies using VR in the assessment of psychiatric disorders.MethodsA systematic search was performed using Pubmed, Embase, PsycInfo, and Web of Science between 2016 and 2020. Studies were included if they used immersive VR, concerned assessment of psychiatric symptoms/disorders, and included adult patients with psychiatric disorders.ResultsThe search resulted in 3,163 potentially eligible articles, from which a total of 27 studies fulfilled inclusion criteria. Most studies considered anxiety (n = 7), addictive, (n = 7), or psychotic disorders (n = 5). Regarding ADHD (n = 3), PTSD (n = 3), and pedophilic disorder (n = 1), a few studies had been performed since 2016. The majority of the included studies compared patient groups to healthy control groups.DiscussionRecent studies on VR-assisted psychiatric assessments have been conducted to validate VR environments, to assess symptoms for diagnostics or therapy goals, search for biomarkers, and to gain knowledge on psychiatric disorders. VR tasks were able to detect some difference between patient and healthy control groups, mainly with regard to self-report measures. Despite previous, promising prospects, the use of VR as a tool in clinical assessments must still be considered as a field in need of continued developments and evaluations.Systematic Review Registrationwww.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero, identifier: CRD42021233772.
Highlights
Assessments and the diagnostic process in psychiatry mainly consist of clinical interviews, self-report questionnaires, neuropsychological tests, and, in some cases, behavioral observations (1)
virtual reality (VR)-assisted psychiatric assessment has been described as promising as it may enable real-time assessments within virtual environments or contexts that are perceived and experienced by the patient as “real.” This can create greater possibilities for increased ecological validity of psychiatric assessments as opposed to assessments relying on self-reports, interviews, and behavioral tasks conducted in laboratory settings (10, 11)
We reviewed VR assessment studies on differences between patients with a psychiatric disorder and healthy controls, and studies investigating the relation between VR measures and established diagnostic measures e.g., clinical assessments or patient-rated questionnaires of psychiatric symptoms and disorders
Summary
Assessments and the diagnostic process in psychiatry mainly consist of clinical interviews, self-report questionnaires, neuropsychological tests, and, in some cases, behavioral observations (1). VR-assisted psychiatric assessment has been described as promising as it may enable real-time assessments within (individually tailored) virtual environments or contexts that are perceived and experienced by the patient as “real.” This can create greater possibilities for increased ecological validity of psychiatric assessments as opposed to assessments relying on self-reports, interviews, and behavioral tasks conducted in laboratory settings (10, 11). Technological developments such as Virtual reality (VR) provide new opportunities to extend and innovate mental healthcare. VR as a tool for clinical assessment has been described as promising, as it can enable real-time assessment within real-like environments or contexts as opposed to self-report and behavioral tasks in laboratory settings
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