Comparison of virtual reality exposure technique with cognitive behavioral based psychoeducation in university students with social anxiety sypmtoms

The virtual reality technique (VRT), which is considered as a treatment approach and has been used especially in the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is used in the treatment of many psychological disorders, particularly anxiety disorders. Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is among these disorders. This study, in which 26 people, 11 females and 3 males in the experimental group and 9 females and 3 males in the control group, participated. Examined the effectiveness of SGMB in university students between the ages of 18-30 with social anxiety symptoms. In addition, it was examined whether SGMB sessions would be more meaningful than the psychoeducation session or not for treatment of these symptoms. The SGMB group was exposed to 2 different social conditions with virtual reality glasses twice during four sessions at the Özel Terapi Tıp Merkezi. In the control group, one session of psychoeducation was given face-to-face and the rest were given online. After this psychoeducation, a brochure describing the use of CBT dynamics on SAD was shared with the participants. As a result of the analysis of the scales applied as pre-test and post-test, it was found that SGMB had a significant effect on reducing social anxiety symptoms. In addition, CBT-based psychoeducation session was found to be an effective method in reducing the social anxiety scores of the students in the control group. However, there was no outcome which proves that SGMB was more effective than psychoeducational sessions in reducing the symptoms of social anxiety. At this point, while emphasizing the importance of using exposure methods via virtual reality as an effective treatment way both on it's own and in therapy processes, the importance of structured long-term psychoeducation programs can be an important tool in positively influencing students' social anxiety levels and symptoms.