VR Compassion: Feasibility (VRCom-F)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Treating Depression with Self-Compassion using Virtual Reality: Feasibility and Acceptability Study
IRAS ID
287198
Contact name
John King
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN57462718
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
UCL Data Protection Registration, Z6364106/2021/12/36
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 0 days
Research summary
Excessive self-criticism is one of the most significant psychological processes thought to influence the susceptibility to and maintenance of depression. Self-compassion can provide balance to feelings of self-criticism through self-acceptance and self-soothing and thus, can be viewed as a natural modulator of self-criticism. Thus, psychological therapies have been developed that aim to reduce self-criticism by helping people develop a compassionate relationship with themselves. However, some people have difficulty engaging with the therapy, particularly those who struggle to draw upon previous positive compassionate experiences or find mental imagery challenging.
We have previously demonstrated that virtual reality (VR) technology can be used to foster self-compassion and decrease self-criticism in both self-critical individuals recruited from community samples and in patients with depression. Our pilot intervention combined the principles of avatar ownership and self-identification within a fully immersive VR environment to simulate receiving compassion from oneself. Briefly, by having people deliver compassion in one virtual body and receive it in another they could experience receiving compassion from themselves. These pilot studies provided encouraging initial evidence that VR can be used to strengthen resilience through teaching patients to sooth themselves more effectively using compassion. Furthermore, in the clinical study patients had significantly lower depression symptoms at one-month follow-up.
We have scaled up our pilot VR scenario into a 4-session treatment for depression that takes advantage of recent technological innovations and feedback from patients in our clinical study and consultation with experts with lived experience of depression. This study aims to test the feasibility and acceptability of a randomised control trial of delivering the scaled-up treatment within a clinical setting as an adjunct to psychological therapy. If successful, the results will also be used to generate an estimate of effect size to power an effectiveness trial determine the extent of clinical improvement associated with the intervention.
REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/WM/0090
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jun 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion