Cockroach Phobia Research Articles

Improving Exposure Therapy Through Projection-Based Augmented Reality for the Treatment of Cockroach Phobia: A Feasibility, Multiple-Baseline, Single-Case Study

Augmented Reality (AR) is helpful for overcoming the challenges of in vivo exposure therapy for Specific Phobia (SP). Specifically, Projection-based AR exposure therapy (P-ARET) allows the individual to face the feared animal without intrusive hardware, the phobic stimulus can be controlled, and it can maximize “variability”, producing a positive effect in the generalization of the results. The goal of this work is to assess the feasibility of P-ARET for SP, comparing multiple stimuli (MS) versus single stimulus (SS) conditions and evaluating the participants’ user experience. Adherence to a daily monitoring app (Emotional Monitor) and preliminary efficacy of the P-ARET treatment were assessed. Four participants diagnosed with SP of cockroaches (DSM-5) were randomly assigned to different baselines. Episodic and daily evaluations were performed. Participants considered the MS condition more aversive but more effective than the SS condition. Adherence to the mobile app was 83% for three participants and 55% for the remaining person. Analyses of non-overlap of all pairs and changes in the functionality levels showed a decrease in the SP symptoms at post-treatment and follow-ups. This study offers preliminary feasibility results for a novel form of P-ARET to treat participants with cockroach phobia, which may also apply to other phobias.

Effectiveness of a projection-based augmented reality exposure system in treating cockroach phobia: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial

BackgroundDespite being the treatment of choice for phobic disorders, in vivo exposure treatment (IVET) presents some important limitations related mainly to low acceptance and high drop-out rates. Augmented reality (AR)...

Improving the efficacy of exposure therapy using projection-based augmented reality for the treatment of cockroach phobia: a randomised clinical trial protocol

IntroductionIn vivo exposure is the treatment of choice for specific phobia (SP), but this technique presents limitations related to access and acceptability. Augmented reality (AR) offers advantages like maximising strategies...

Neuroimaging in cockroach phobia: An experimental study

Background/ObjectiveIn this study we explored the neuroimaging characteristics of persons with specific small animal (cockroach) phobia to determine whether there are differences in cerebral activity between persons with and without cockroach phobia under conditions of phobic and non-phobic stimulation. Method: 24 adult persons (12 with phobia) were studied. The diagnosis of phobia was obtained with a structured interview and questionnaires. All participants were exposed to a 3D video presentation during an fMRI session. Results: The phobic group showed significant differential activations that were congruent with a dual route model of fear processing through the thalamus-amygdala (route I) and the thalamus-sensory and association cortex-entorhinal cortex-hippocampus-subiculum-amygdala (route II). Apart from this dual route, we also found differential activations in the globus pallidum, parahippocampal gyrus, insula, pars orbitalis, triangularis and opercularis of the frontal cortex, and cerebellum. Respect to non-phobic group, no activations were found in the insula or the anterior cingulate cortex. Conclusions: There seems to be a dual route depending on how persons with phobia to cockroaches process phobic stimuli. This double processing can have implications for the psychological treatment of specific phobias.

Design and Implementation of Markerless Augmented Reality Application for Cockroach Phobia Therapy Using Adaptive Threshold

Augmented reality (AR) technology is useful for treating several psychological problems, including phobias such as fear of flying, agoraphobia, claustrophobia, and phobia to insects and small animals. However, the currently existing applications for therapy of cockroach phobia that uses AR technology are still very dependent towards the presence of markers, which might lessen the feeling of being in an actual scenario from everyday lives. In this paper, we created a system that is able to use everyday things as a replacement for markers for phobia therapy for cockroach. There are five main processes: getting the live streaming feed from camera, preprocessing, extracting the center point of the objects, tracking the marker-substitute objects, and lastly, instantiating cockroaches randomly after user lifts the objects according to the number and mode of the cockroaches, whether it is moving or not, that are predetermined by the user. The evaluation in this paper includes eight participants that are carefully selected based on their Fear of Spiders Questionnaire (FSQ) score that is translated into Indonesian and modified to accommodate cockroaches instead of spiders. The results is that the system can induce anxiety level on participants with the highest score of 10, which is the highest score in Standard Unit of Discomfort scale (SUDs). While the presence and reality judgment of this paper has the highest score of 7 which is also the highest score in Slater-Usoh-Steed Questionnaire (SUS).

Working alliance inventory applied to virtual and augmented reality (WAI-VAR): psychometrics and therapeutic outcomes.

This study examines the psychometric properties of the Working Alliance Inventory-Short (WAI-S) adaptation to Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) therapies (WAI-VAR). The relationship between the therapeutic alliance (TA) with VR and AR and clinically significant change (CSC) is also explored. Seventy-five patients took part in this study (74.7% women, Mage = 34.41). Fear of flying and adjustment disorder patients received VR therapy, and cockroach phobia patients received AR therapy. Psychometric properties, CSC, one-way ANOVA, Spearman’s Correlations and Multiple Regression were calculated. The WAI-VAR showed a unidimensional structure, high internal consistency and adequate convergent validity. “Not changed” patients scored lower on the WAI-VAR than “improved” and “recovered” patients. Correlation between the WAI-VAR and CSC was moderate. The best fitting model for predicting CSC was a linear combination of the TA with therapist (WAI-S) and the TA with VR and AR (WAI-VAR), due to the latter variable slightly increased the percentage of variability accounted for in CSC. The WAI-VAR is the first validated instrument to measure the TA with VR and AR in research and clinical practice. This study reveals the importance of the quality of the TA with technologies in achieving positive outcomes in the therapy.

Treating small animal phobias using a projective-augmented reality system: A single-case study

In vivo exposure is the evidence based treatment for small animal phobias. However, this type of treatment still present a low treatment seek rate and a high drop-out rate, due to its aversive character for the patients. New technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have started to show their potential in anxiety disorders, including small animal phobia treatment and have demonstrated their efficacy. However, these systems still present limitations regarding the possibility to offer an optimal therapy to the phobia sufferers. This study evaluates the clinical efficacy of new AR exposure therapy – a projection-based system (P-ARET) for small animal phobias in the short (post-treatment), and long term (3- and 12-month follow-up). Four patients diagnosed with cockroach phobia participated in this pilot treatment study. The results show that all patients improved significantly in main outcome measures after the treatment. The study also follows a strategy of benchmarking, in which the results obtained from the evaluation of the P-ARET system in clinical setting are compared with two other clinically validated phobia therapies (traditional, in vivo exposure therapy (IVET); virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET); and AR exposure therapy with the use of a head-mounted display (HMD-ARET). The results indicate that the clinical effectiveness of new projection-based AR system for small animal phobia treatment was comparable to those achieved by the therapeutic conditions in other studies. However, the P-ARET system brings some advantages in terms of patient-therapist communication and more natural interaction with the system.

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Introduction. In order to conduct a reliable assessment of psychological disorders, instruments with good psychometric properties must be developed. Specific phobias are highly prevalent and can become very disabling for many people (magee, Eaton, Wittchen, McGonable & Kessler, 1996). The aim of this study is to provide preliminary normative data of the Spider Phobia Beliefs Questionnaire (sBQ) (Arntz, Lavy, Van den Berg & Van Rijsoort, 1993) adapted for cockroach phobia in general and clinical Spanish population. method. The general sample was composed of 158 participants and the clinical sample included 63 patients. The sBQ is a questionnaire that is composed of two subscales, which assess beliefs related to spider phobia. It consists of 78 items describing situations related with the fear to these animals. The back translation process of the original version of the sBQ was conducted and the word spider was replaced by the word cockroach. Results. Internal consistency for both subscales in both populations showed an excellent Cronbach s alpha coefficient. In addition, there were significant differences in both subscales of the sBQ between the two groups. Conclusions. Preliminary results show that the Spanish version of the sBQ adaptation in this study has a good internal consistency for both subscales and in both populations. The adaptation of the sBQ was also effective in differentiating between clinical population diagnosed with cockroach phobia and general population.

Treating cockroach phobia using a serious game on a mobile phone and augmented reality exposure: A single case study

In vivo exposure has proved its efficacy in the treatment of specific phobias; however, not all patients benefit from it. Communication and information technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have improved exposure treatment adherence and acceptance. Serious games (SG) could also be used in order to facilitate exposure treatment. A line of research on SG is emerging which focuses on health issues. We have developed a SG for the treatment of cockroach phobia that uses a mobile phone as the application device. This work examines results of an N = 1 study about whether the use of this mobile game can facilitate treatment of this specific phobia preparing her for the AR exposure. A 25-year-old woman with cockroach phobia participated in the study. Results showed that the use of the mobile game reduced her level of fear and avoidance before a “one-session” AR exposure treatment was applied, following the guidelines by Öst. The participant found very helpful the use of the SG before the AR exposure session and she was willing to use it after the AR exposure session as a homework assignment. Although the results of this study are preliminary, SG appears to be a line of research of high interest in clinical psychology for the treatment of specific phobias.

An Augmented Reality System Validation for the Treatment of Cockroach Phobia

Augmented reality (AR) is a new technology in which various virtual elements are incorporated into the user's perception of the real world. The most significant aspect of AR is that the virtual elements add relevant and helpful information to the real scene. AR shares some important characteristics with virtual reality as applied in clinical psychology. However, AR offers additional features that might be crucial for treating certain problems. An AR system designed to treat insect phobia has been used for treating phobia of small animals, and positive preliminary data about the global efficacy of the system have been obtained. However, it is necessary to determine the capacity of similar AR systems and their elements that are designed to evoke anxiety in participants; this is achieved by testing the correspondence between the inclusion of feared stimuli and the induction of anxiety. The objective of the present work is to validate whether the stimuli included in the AR-Insect Phobia system are capable of inducing anxiety in six participants diagnosed with cockroach phobia. Results support the adequacy of each element of the system in inducing anxiety in all participants.

Treating Cockroach Phobia With Augmented Reality

In vivo exposure is the recommended treatment of choice for specific phobias; however, it demonstrates a high attrition rate and is not effective in all instances. The use of virtual reality (VR) has improved the acceptance of exposure treatments to some individuals. Augmented reality (AR) is a variation of VR wherein the user sees the real world augmented by virtual elements. The present study tests an AR system in the short (posttreatment) and long term (3, 6, and 12 months) for the treatment of cockroach phobia using a multiple baseline design across individuals (with 6 participants). The AR exposure therapy was applied using the “one-session treatment” guidelines developed by Öst, Salkovskis, and Hellström (1991). Results showed that AR was effective at treating cockroach phobia. All participants improved significantly in all outcome measures after treatment; furthermore, the treatment gains were maintained at 3, 6, and 12-month follow-up periods. This study discusses the advantages of AR as well as its potential applications.

Treating Cockroach Phobia Using a Mobile Game and Augmented Reality: A Case Study

Event Abstract Back to Event Treating Cockroach Phobia Using a Mobile Game and Augmented Reality: A Case Study Juani Bretón-López1*, C. Botella1, 2, S. Quero1, 2, R. M. Baños2, 3, M. C. Juan4, I. Zaragozá4, García Palacios1, 2 and M. Alcañiz2, 4 1 Universidad Jaume , Spain 2 CIBER de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Spain 3 Universidad de Valencia, Spain 4 Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain In vivo exposure has proved its efficacy in the treatment of specific phobias, however, not all patients benefit from it. Communication and Information Technologies like Virtual reality and Augmented Reality (AR) have improved exposure treatment adherence and acceptance. Serious games could also be used in order to facilitate exposure treatment. We have developed a serious game with a mobile phone as application device. This work examines in a case study whether the use of this mobile game can facilitate the treatment of a specific phobia. A 25-year old woman with cockroach phobia participated in the study. Results showed that the use of the mobile game during 9 days reduced the level of fear and avoidance. Besides, the use of the mobile game after AR exposure following the “one-session treatment” guidelines by Öst resulted in an additional reduction of fear, avoidance and belief in the negative thought. Therefore, serious games seem to be a lie of research of high interest in Clinical Psychology for the treatment of specific phobias. Conference: Annual CyberTherapy and CyberPsychology 2009 conference, Villa Caramora, Italy, 21 Jun - 23 Jun, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Abstracts Citation: Bretón-López J, Botella C, Quero S, Baños RM, Juan MC, Zaragozá I, Palacios G and Alcañiz M (2009). Treating Cockroach Phobia Using a Mobile Game and Augmented Reality: A Case Study. Front. Neuroeng. Conference Abstract: Annual CyberTherapy and CyberPsychology 2009 conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.14.2009.06.012 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 Mar 2009; Published Online: 18 Mar 2009. * Correspondence: Juani Bretón-López, Universidad Jaume, Castellon, Spain, breton@psb.uji.es Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Juani Bretón-López C. Botella S. Quero R. M Baños M. C Juan I. Zaragozá García Palacios M. Alcañiz Google Juani Bretón-López C. Botella S. Quero R. M Baños M. C Juan I. Zaragozá García Palacios M. Alcañiz Google Scholar Juani Bretón-López C. Botella S. Quero R. M Baños M. C Juan I. Zaragozá García Palacios M. Alcañiz PubMed Juani Bretón-López C. Botella S. Quero R. M Baños M. C Juan I. Zaragozá García Palacios M. Alcañiz Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Mixing Realities? An Application of Augmented Reality for the Treatment of Cockroach Phobia

Augmented reality (AR) refers to the introduction of virtual elements in the real world. That is, the person is seeing an image composed of a visualization of the real world, and a series of virtual elements that, at that same moment, are super-imposed on the real world. The most important aspect of AR is that the virtual elements supply to the person relevant and useful information that is not contained in the real world. AR has notable potential, and has already been used in diverse fields, such as medicine, the army, coaching, engineering, design, and robotics. Until now, AR has never been used in the scope of psychological treatment. Nevertheless, AR presents various advantages. Just like in the classical systems of virtual reality, it is possible to have total control over the virtual elements that are super-imposed on the real world, and how one interacts with those elements. AR could involve additional advantages; on one side it could be less expensive since it also uses the real world (this does not need to be modeled), and it could facilitate the feeling of presence (the sensation of being there), and reality judgment (the fact of judging the experience as real) of the person since the environment he or she is in, and what he or she is seeing is, in fact the "reality." In this paper, we present the data of the first case study in which AR has been used for the treatment of a specific phobia, cockroaches phobia. It addresses a system of AR that permits exposure to virtual cockroaches super-imposed on the real world. In order to carry out the exposure, the guidelines of Ost with respect to "one-session treatment" were followed. The results are promising. The participant demonstrated notable fear and avoidance in the behavioral avoidance test before the treatment, and not only was an important decrease in the scores of fear and avoidance observed after the treatment, but also the participant was capable of approaching, interacting, and killing live cockroaches immediately following the treatment. The results are maintained in a follow-up conducted 1 month after the termination of the treatment.