Embodying self-compassion within virtual reality and its effects on patients with depression

BJPsych Open

Volumn 2, Issue 1, 2016, Pages 74-80

  Falconer, Caroline J ^a   Rovira, Aitor ^c   King, John A ^d   Gilbert, Paul ^b   Antley, Angus ^c   Fearon, Pasco ^d   Ralph, Neil ^d,e   Slater, Mel ^d,f   Brewin, Chris R ^d  

^a Clinical Educational and Health Psychology   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF DERBY   (United Kingdom)

^c Department of Computer Science ^*  (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^e Lewisham Psychological Therapies Service   (United Kingdom)

^f UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA   (Spain)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84978736688     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20564724     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1192/bjpo.bp.115.002147     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. Kannan D, Levitt HM. A review of client self-criticism in psychotherapy. J Psychother Integr 2013; 23: 166-78.
2. Blatt SJ, Zuroff DC. Interpersonal relatedness and self-definition - 2 protypes for depression. Clin Psychol Rev 1992; 12: 527-62.
3. Petkova VI, Khoshnevis M, Ehrsson HH. The perspective matters! Multisensory integration in egocentric reference frames determines full-body ownership. Front Psychol 2011; 2: 35.
4. Slater M, Spanlang B, Sanchez-Vives MV, Blanke O. First person experience of body transfer in virtual reality. PLoS One 2010; 5: e10564.
5. Petkova VI, Ehrsson HH. If I were you: perceptual illusion of body swapping. PLoS One 2008; 3: e3832.
6. Banakou D, Slater M. Body ownership causes illusory self-attribution of speaking and influences subsequent real speaking. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111: 17678-83.
7. Maister L, Slater M, Sanchez-Vives MV, Tsakiris M. Changing bodies changes minds: owning another body affects social cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 2015; 19: 6-12.
8. Banakou D, Groten R, Slater M. Illusory ownership of a virtual child body causes overestimation of object sizes and implicit attitude changes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013; 110: 12846-51.
9. Peck TC, Seinfeld S, Aglioti SM, Slater M. Putting yourself in the skin of a black avatar reduces implicit racial bias. Conscious Cogn 2013; 22: 779-87.
10. Martini M, Perez-Marcos D, Sanchez-Vives MV. Modulation of pain threshold by virtual body ownership. Eur J Pain 2014; 18: 1040-8.
11. Falconer CJ, Slater M, Rovira A, King JA, Gilbert P, Antley A, et al. Embodying compassion: a virtual reality paradigm for overcoming excessive self-criticism. PLoS One 2014; 9: e111933.
12. First MB, Spitzer RL, Gibbon M, Williams JBW. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders-Patient Edition (SCID-I/P, Version 2.0). Biometrics Research Department of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1995.
13. Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW. The PHQ-9 - validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med 2001; 16: 606-13.
14. Williams AD, Andrews G. The effectiveness of internet cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) for depression in primary care: a quality assurance study. PLoS One 2013; 8: e57447.
15. McMillan D, Gilbody S, Richards D. Defining successful treatment outcome in depression using the PHQ-9: a comparison of methods. J Affect Disord 2010; 127: 122-9.
16. Zung WWK. A self-rating depression scale. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1965; 12: 63-70.
17. Falconer CJ, King JA, Brewin CR. Demonstrating mood repair with a situation-based measure of self-compassion and self-criticism. Psychol Psychother 2015; 88: 351-65.
18. Kamboj SK, Kilford EJ, Minchin S, Moss A, Lawn W, Das RK, et al. Recreational 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA) or 'ecstasy' and self-focused compassion: preliminary steps in the development of a therapeutic psychophar-macology of contemplative practices. J Psychopharmacol 2015; 29: 961-70.
19. Gilbert P, McEwan K, Matos M, Rivis A. Fears of compassion: development of three self-report measures. Psychol Psychother 2011; 84: 239-55.
20. Sanchez-Vives MV, Slater M. From presence to consciousness through virtual reality. Nat Rev Neurosci 2005; 6: 332-9.
21. Gilbert P. Compassion Focused Therapy: Distinctive Features. Routledge, 2010.
22. Gilbert P, McEwan K, Gibbons L, Chotai S, Duarte J, Matos M. Fears of compassion and happiness in relation to alexithymia, mindfulness and self-criticism. Psychol Psychother 2013; 84: 239-55.
23. Gilbert P, Irons C. A pilot exploration of the use of compassionate images in a group of self-critical people. Memory 2004; 12: 507-16.
24. Hofmann SG, Grossman P, Hinton DE. Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions. Clin Psychol Rev 2011; 31: 1126-32.
25. Leary MR, Tate EB, Adams CE, Allen AB, Hancock J. Self-compassion and reactions to unpleasant self-relevant events: the implications of treating oneself kindly. J Pers Soc Psychol 2007; 92: 887-904.
26. Neff KD, Germer CK. A pilot study and randomized controlled trial of the mindful self-compassion program. J Clin Psychol 2013; 69: 28-44.
27. Gilbert P. The evolution and social dynamics of compassion. Soc Personal Psychol Compass 2015; 9: 239-54.
28. Brewin CR, Wheatley I, Patel T, Fearon P, Hackmann A, Wells A, et al. Imagery rescripting as a brief stand-alone treatment for depressed patients with intrusive memories. Behav Res Ther 2009; 47: 569-76.
29. Hawley CJ, Gale TM, Smith PSJ, Jain S, Farag A, Kondan R, et al. Equations for converting scores between depression scales (MADRS, SRS, PHQ-9 and BDI-II): good statistical, but weak idiographic, validity. Hum Psychopharmacol 2013; 28: 544-51.
30. Titov N, Dear BF, McMillan D, Anderson T, Zou J, Sunderland M.Psychometric comparison of the PHQ-9 and BDI-II for measuring response during treatment of depression. Cogn Behav Ther 2011; 40: 126-36.
31. Williams AD, Blackwell SE, Mackenzie A, Holmes EA, Andrews G.Combining imagination and reason in the treatment of depression: a randomized controlled trial of internet-based cognitive-bias modification and internet-CBT for depression. J Consult Clin Psychol 2013; 81: 793-9.
32. de Borst AW, de Gelder B. Is it the real deal? Perception of virtual characters versus humans: an affective cognitive neuroscience perspective. Front Psychol 2015; 6: 576.
33. Leff J, Williams G, Huckvale M, Arbuthnot M, Leff AP. Avatar therapy for persecutory auditory hallucinations: what is it and how does it work? Psychosis 2014; 6: 166-76.
34. Freeman D, Antley A, Ehlers A, Dunn G, Thompson C, Vorontsova N, et al. The use of immersive virtual reality (VR) to predict the occurrence 6 months later of paranoid thinking and posttraumatic stress symptoms assessed by self-report and interviewer methods: a study of individuals who have been physically assaulted. Psychol Assess 2014; 26: 841-7.
35. Hoffman HG, Patterson DR, Carrougher GJ. Use of virtual reality for adjunctive treatment of adult burn pain during physical therapy: a controlled study. Clin J Pain 2000; 16: 244-50.
36. Osimo SA, Pizarro R, Spanlang B, Slater M. Conversations between self and self as Sigmund Freud - a virtual body ownership paradigm for self counselling. Sci Rep 2015; 5: 13899.
37. Pyszczynski T, Greenberg J. Self-regulatory perseveration and the depressive self-focusing style - a self-awareness theory of reactive depression. Psychol Bull 1987; 102: 122-38.
38. Billings AG, Moos RH. Life stressors and social resources affect posttreatment outcomes among depressed patients. J Abnorm Psychol 1985; 94: 140-53.
39. George LK, Blazer DG, Hughes DC, Fowler N. Social support and the outcome of major depression. Br J Psychiatry 1989; 154: 478-85.
40. Hirschfeld RMA, Cross CK. Epidemiology of depression: psychosocial risk factors. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983; 39: 35-46.