Healthy Participants
Conditions
Keywords
Schema Therapy, Virtual Reality, Imagination, Mental Imagery
Brief summary
Schema therapy helps people understand which emotional needs were not met during childhood, and how they can take care of those needs now. One important part of the therapy is the chairwork exercise, where people imagine talking to different parts of themselves (like the strict parent or the hurt child) using empty chairs. These exercises can be very helpful, but they can also be difficult for people who find it hard to imagine things in their mind. Virtual Reality (VR) can make these exercises easier and more powerful. VR creates a 3D world that feels real, using special equipment like a headset. In this world, people can see and interact with virtual characters that represent different parts of themselves. This can make the therapy more concrete and easier to understand, especially for people who struggle with imagination. In this study, the investigators want to compare the regular imagination-based exercise with the chairwork exercise done in Virtual Reality. Everyone who joins the study will do both versions of the exercise-one with imagination and one with VR. The order will be random. Before and after each exercise, a short assessment will be conducted to see how people feel. At the end, there will also be a short interview about their experience. The whole session will take about 1.5 to 2 hours. The investigators want to know if people experience the VR exercise differently than the regular imagination exercise. The investigators also want to know if these differences depend on how well someone can imagine things in their mind.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALVirtual Reality chairwork exercise
A chairwork exercise from schema therapy, executed in Virtual Reality
BEHAVIORALImagination exercise
A regular schema therapy imagination exercise
Sponsors
University Medical Center Groningen
University of Groningen
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
The study will use a counterbalanced within-subjects crossover design, where all participants perform an assessment and then first perform one exercise (either VR or imagination), then do an assessment, following, the other exercise (either VR or imagination), next, another assessment and finally a qualitative interview. The order of exercises will be randomized.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
16 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Undergraduate student * 16 years or older * A score of ≥ 3 on (at least) one of the schema modes (Demanding Parent, Punitive Parent, and/or Vulnerable Child)
Exclusion criteria
* Insufficient command of the Dutch Language
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions about affect | Pre-, mid-, and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours) | VAS questions on positive and negative affect that were derived from ESM studies and previous VR studies. |
| Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions on therapeutic relationship | Mid- and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours) | Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions on therapeutic relationship (Session Rating Scale \[SRS\]) |
| Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions about schema modes | Pre-, mid-, and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours) | VAS questions on schema modes (Momentary Schema Modes Questionnaire \[MSMQ\]) |
| Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions on immersion | Mid- and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours) | VAS questions on the Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ) |
| Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions Self-Compassion and self-Criticism Scales (SCCS) | Pre-, mid-, and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours) | VAS questions on self-criticism and self-compassion (Self-Compassion and Self-Criticism Scales \[SCCS\]) |
| Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions about self-esteem. | Pre-, mid-, and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours) | VAS questions on self-esteem that were derived from ESM studies and previous VR studies. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Subjective experiences with both exercises | Post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours) | Qualitative interview consisting of open-ended questions to explore experiences and compare their experiences with both exercises, as well as close-ended evaluation questions in a questionnaire. |
Countries
Netherlands
Outcome results
None listed