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Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics A review of balancing psychotherapy

Table 4. Design of VR‑BPT‑related studies
Types of Sample Study design Methods Results
disease size
OCD 30 VR-BPT and BPT groups were The experimental group and the control Both groups improved obsessive-compulsive
used to compare the efficacy in the group were given psychotherapy once a symptoms, anxiety, and depression. The
treatment of obsessive-compulsive week for 8 weeks. Yale-Brown obsessive effect of VR-BPT was more effective
symptoms, anxiety, depression, compulsive scale and other scales were used than BPT alone. The VR-BPT group also
social support, and interpersonal to evaluate the efficacy. showed significantly lower OCD scores,
relationships. demonstrating an earlier treatment effect.
Panic 27 VR-BPT combined with drug The experimental group and the control Both groups alleviated panic severity,
disorder therapy and BPT combined with group received psychological treatment anxiety, and depression symptoms. VR-BPT
drug therapy groups were used twice a week for 4 weeks. Panic disorder had a better effect on panic severity and
to compare the efficacy on panic severity scale and other scales were used to anxiety symptoms compared to BPT.
severity as well as on symptoms of evaluate the efficacy.
panic, anxiety, and depression.
MDD 60 VR-BPT combined with drugs and After the collection of vital signs, blood VR-BPT combined with drug therapy was
drug therapy alone groups were samples, and body measurements, the more effective than drug therapy alone in
used to verify treatment efficacy and experimental group and the control group improving depression levels.
evaluate the effect of allostatic load. received psychological treatment twice a
week for 4 weeks. HAMD-17 was used to
evaluate the efficacy.
Abbreviations: BPT: Balancing psychotherapy; HAMD-17: Hamilton depression scale; MDD: Major depressive disorder; OCD: Obsessive-compulsive
disorder; VR-BPT: virtual reality-based balancing psychotherapy.

The VR-BPT protocol typically incorporates techniques GBPT is effective in reducing the neuroticism level of
such as VR-based exposure therapy, music relaxation, patients. However, there was no significant difference in
and mindfulness meditation. Therapists make flexible the reduction of the four-dimensional neuroticism score
adjustments to these approaches based on individual (p>0.05). The scale assessed four factors: Low self-worth,
patient needs to optimize treatment outcomes. The nervous sensitivity, emotional variability, and excessive
integration of VR technology in BPT is an innovative worry. The scores reflected the patients’ neuroticism levels
development providing an interactive and immersive on these four dimensions, with lower scores indicating
way for deconstructing and reconstructing personal lower levels of neuroticism.
experience, breaking through the limitations of previous Gao assessed changes in patients’ psychological
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psychotherapy techniques. 4 qualities using the perceived social support scale, simple

3.4. Innovative efficacy mechanisms in BPT clinical coping style questionnaire, and goal pursuit scale,
practice comparing GBPT and GCBT interventions. The results
showed that there was no significant difference across all
In addition to symptom reduction, recent clinical studies measures between the two groups before and after the
on GBPT have begun to explore potential underlying intervention (p>0.05).
therapeutic mechanisms. The findings of three such studies While these studies adopted innovative evaluation
relevant studies are shown in Table 5. 23-25 metrics, the effectiveness and validity of these indicators
Wang explored the effect of GBPT on heart rate in elucidating BPT’s mechanisms were not thoroughly
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variability (HRV) in patients with panic disorder. The study addressed. For instance, neuroticism and psychological
found no significant difference in HRV indices between the quality assessments relied solely on self-report instruments,
control and GBPT groups (p>0.05), suggesting that HRV is which may introduce bias and limit interpretability. 24,25
not a sensitive and effective indicator of therapeutic change Furthermore, the HRV measurements lacked further
in this context. Liu explored the effect of GBPT on the level validation for use as physiological indicators of
24
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of neuroticism among GAD patients, based on the close psychotherapy efficacy. Overall, these exploratory studies
connection between GAD and neurotic personality traits. offer valuable insights and a foundation for future research.
After 8 weeks of intervention, the reduction of the Eysenck
Personality questionnaire-revised short-scale-neuroticism 4. Conclusion and future perspectives
score in the experimental group was significantly higher Current studies continue to expand the scope of BPT
compared to the control group (p<0.01), indicating that application, contributing to the maturation of its theoretical

Volume 3 Issue 4 (2025) 17 doi: 10.36922/jcbp.8288