Virtual Reality Assisted Schema Therapy

NCT07171736 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 22810
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 30
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

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.

Conditions

Healthy Participants

Keywords

Schema Therapy; Virtual Reality; Imagination; Mental Imagery

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions about schema modes

  VAS questions on schema modes (Momentary Schema Modes Questionnaire \[MSMQ\])

  Pre-, mid-, and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours)

• Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions about affect

  VAS questions on positive and negative affect that were derived from ESM studies and previous VR studies.

  Pre-, mid-, and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours)

• Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions Self-Compassion and self-Criticism Scales (SCCS)

  VAS questions on self-criticism and self-compassion (Self-Compassion and Self-Criticism Scales \[SCCS\])

  Pre-, mid-, and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours)

• Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions about self-esteem.

  VAS questions on self-esteem that were derived from ESM studies and previous VR studies.

  Pre-, mid-, and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours)

• Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions on therapeutic relationship

  Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions on therapeutic relationship (Session Rating Scale \[SRS\])

  Mid- and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours)

• Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questions on immersion

  VAS questions on the Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ)

  Mid- and post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours)

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Subjective experiences with both exercises

  Post-assessment (within timeframe of 1.5 hours)

Other Outcomes (4)

• Mental Imagery Ability

  Pre-assessment (at the beginning of the 1.5h session, before the intervention)

• Screening questionnaire of schema modes

  Screening (before start of intervention)

• Demographic characteristics

  Pre-assessment (at the beginning of the 1.5h session, before the intervention)

Study Arms (2)

VR exercise then imagination exercise

EXPERIMENTAL

Receiving the VR exercise first and the imagination exercise second

Behavioral: Virtual Reality chairwork exercise; Behavioral: Imagination exercise

Imaginations exercise then VR exercise

EXPERIMENTAL

Receiving the imagination exercise first and the VR exercise second

Behavioral: Virtual Reality chairwork exercise; Behavioral: Imagination exercise

Interventions

Virtual Reality chairwork exercise BEHAVIORAL

A chairwork exercise from schema therapy, executed in Virtual Reality

Imaginations exercise then VR exercise; VR exercise then imagination exercise

Imagination exercise BEHAVIORAL

A regular schema therapy imagination exercise

Imaginations exercise then VR exercise; VR exercise then imagination exercise

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 16 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Undergraduate student
• years or older
• A score of ≥ 3 on (at least) one of the schema modes (Demanding Parent, Punitive Parent, and/or Vulnerable Child)

You may not qualify if:

• Insufficient command of the Dutch Language

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Medical Center Groningen: lead
• University of Groningen: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

UMCG

Groningen, Provincie Groningen, 9713 GZ, Netherlands

RECRUITING

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: 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.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 8, 2025
• First Posted: September 12, 2025
• Study Start: January 29, 2026
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2026
• Last Updated: May 15, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Time Frame: After publication of the manuscript

Locations

NL (1)