Although in vivo exposure therapy is highly effective in the treatment of specific phobias, only a minority of patients seeks therapy. Exposure to virtual objects has been shown to be better tolerated, equally efficacious, but the technology has not been made widely accessible yet.

We developed an augmented reality (AR) application (app) to reduce fear of spiders and performed a randomized controlled trial comparing the effects of our app (six 30-min sessions at home over a two-week period) with no intervention. Primary outcome was subjective fear, measured by a Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) in a Behavioural Approach Test (BAT) in a real-life spider situation at six weeks follow-up.

Between Oct 7, 2019, and Dec 6, 2019, 66 individuals were enrolled and randomized. The intervention led to significantly lower subjective fear in the BAT compared to the control group (intervention group, baseline: 7.12 [SD 2.03] follow-up: 5.03 [SD 2.19] vs. control group, baseline: 7.06 [SD 2.34], follow-up 6.24 [SD 2.21]; adjusted group difference -1.24, 95 % CI -2.17 to -0.31; Cohen’s d = 0.57, p = 0.010).

The repeated use of the AR app reduces subjective fear in a real-life spider situation, providing a low-threshold and low-cost treatment for fear of spiders.

尽管体内暴露疗法在治疗特定恐惧症方面非常有效，但只有少数患者寻求治疗。暴露于虚拟对象已被证明具有更好的耐受性，同样有效，但该技术尚未被广泛使用。

我们开发了一个增强现实 (AR) 应用程序 (app) 来减少对蜘蛛的恐惧，并进行了一项随机对照试验，比较了我们的应用程序（两周内在家进行 6 次 30 分钟的会话）在没有干预的情况下的效果。主要结果是主观恐惧，通过行为方法测试 (BAT) 中的主观痛苦量表 (SUDS) 在真实蜘蛛情况下在六周的随访中进行测量。

2019 年 10 月 7 日至 2019 年 12 月 6 日期间，共有 66 名个体被纳入并随机分组。与对照组相比，干预导致 BAT 中的主观恐惧显着降低（干预组，基线：7.12 [SD 2.03] 随访：5.03 [SD 2.19] 与对照组相比，基线：7.06 [SD 2.34]，跟随-up 6.24 [SD 2.21]；调整后的组差异 -1.24，95% CI -2.17 至 -0.31；Cohen's d = 0.57，p = 0.010）。

AR应用的重复使用减少了现实生活中蜘蛛情况下的主观恐惧，为蜘蛛恐惧提供了一种低门槛、低成本的治疗方法。