Social anxiety
Social Anxiety Disorder
Intense fear of social situations involving scrutiny: public speaking, eating in a restaurant, interviews, parties, work meetings.
Why VR for this phobia?
You can't reproduce the variability of a real audience in the office. VR lets you control audience size, facial reactions, hostile versus friendly questions, and repeat the critical sequences until they consolidate.
VR hierarchy · 5 graded levels
Each level should be completed with SUDS in the target range across at least two consecutive sessions before advancing. The most common mistake is moving up levels too fast because the scenario is so easy to change.
- 1
Half-full restaurant, a meal with a partner
SUDS target: ≤4
- 2
One-on-one job interview with standard questions
SUDS target: ≤5
- 3
Six-person work meeting, speaking up once
SUDS target: ≤5
- 4
A 5-minute presentation to 15 people with questions
SUDS target: ≤4
- 5
A 20-minute talk to an audience of 50
SUDS target: ≤3
Clinical notes
Frequent comorbidity with depression and substance use — treat the affective component in parallel. Social anxiety responds better to prolonged exposure (a 30-minute-plus session) than to many short exposures. Scenarios are on the roadmap.
Specific contraindications
- Active, untreated major depressive disorder
- Alcohol use disorder used as a coping mechanism
Is Social anxiety a scenario you need?
Book a demo and tell us — your input weighs on the quarterly roadmap. On Enterprise we can build a custom scenario for you.
VRET is professional clinical-support software, not a certified medical device. Supervision, indication, and application remain the responsibility of the licensed clinician in charge.