A Systematic Review: Learning Emotion Regulation With Virtual Reality

This systematic review explored how immersive virtual reality (IVR) can help people manage emotions like stress and anxiety by analyzing existing studies. It highlighted therapies such as mindfulness, compassion therapy, and exposure therapy, showing how IVR can teach effective emotion-regulation skills. Researchers also identified innovative tools, like biofeedback, which uses physical signals such as heart rate to help people understand and control their emotional responses. Interactive and gamified approaches, like Stressjam and Deep, demonstrated practical uses of IVR for mental health support. While the review confirmed IVR's potential in therapy, it also revealed gaps in research, particularly in applying learning theories like flow theory. Future studies should integrate these theories and game design methods to make IVR therapies even more effective.