The Use of Virtual Reality Interventions to Promote Positive Mental Health: Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Background: A large body of research has documented the efficacy of psychological interventions integrated with virtual reality (VR) therapies in treating psychiatric disorders. However, the concept of positive mental health calls for a 2-fold approach in which both symptoms and positive functioning should be addressed by modern interventions. Objective: This review aimed to summarize studies that applied VR therapies by embracing the positive mental health perspective. Methods: A literature search was conducted by entering the following keywords—“virtual reality” AND “intervention” OR “treatment” OR “therapy” AND “mental health” NOT “systematic review or meta-analysis”—and limiting it to “journal article” and the English language. To be included in this review, articles had to present at least one quantitative measure of positive functioning and one quantitative measure of symptoms or distress and had to investigate adult populations, including populations with psychiatric disorders. Results: A total of 20 articles were included. They described various VR protocols that were applied for the treatment of anxiety disorders (5/20, 25%), depression (2/20, 10%), posttraumatic stress disorder (3/20, 15%), psychosis (3/20, 15%), and stress (7/20, 35%). Most of the studies (13/20, 65%) showed the beneficial effects of VR therapies in improving stress and negative symptoms. However, 35% (7/20) of the studies showed no or a small effect on the various dimensions of positivity, particularly in clinical samples. Conclusions: VR interventions might be cost-effective and largely scalable, but further research is needed to develop existing VR software and treatments according to the modern positive mental health approach.