{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T14:39:42Z","timestamp":1787927982994,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,17]],"date-time":"2024-05-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1715904000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Brain Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET), particularly immersive Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (iVRET), has gained attraction as an innovative approach in exposure therapy (ET), notably for some anxiety disorders with a fear of contamination component, such as spider phobia (SP) and obsessive\u2013compulsive disorder (OCD). This systematic work investigates iVRET\u2019s effectiveness in modulating disgust emotion\u2014a shared aberrant feature across these disorders. Recent reviews have evaluated VRET\u2019s efficacy against in vivo ET. However, emerging evidence also highlights iVRET\u2019s potential in diminishing atypical disgust and related avoidance behaviors, expanding beyond traditional fear-focused outcomes. Our systematic synthesis, adhering to PRISMA guidelines, aims to fill this gap by assessing iVRET\u2019s efficacy in regulating disgust emotion within both clinical and at-risk populations, identified through standardized questionnaires and subjective disgust ratings. This research analyzes data from eight studies on clinical populations and five on healthy populations, offering an insight into iVRET\u2019s potential to mitigate the aberrant disgust response, a common transdiagnostic feature in varied psychopathologies. The findings support iVRET\u2019s clinical relevance in disgust management, providing evidence for a broader therapeutic application of iVRET and pointing out the need for more focused and complete investigations in this emergent field.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci14050510","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,17]],"date-time":"2024-05-17T12:02:23Z","timestamp":1715947343000},"page":"510","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Treating Fear of Contamination Disorders: A Systematic Review of Healthy and Clinical Populations"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4608-2502","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesca","family":"Ferraioli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, 98121 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Laura","family":"Culicetto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, 98121 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5184-6477","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luca","family":"Cecchetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, 55100 Lucca, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandra","family":"Falzone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, 98121 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1230-2770","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesco","family":"Tomaiuolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, 98122 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Angelo","family":"Quartarone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Centro Neurolesi Bonino-Pulejo, 98124 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7557-9078","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carmelo Mario","family":"Vicario","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, 98121 Messina, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1016\/j.janxdis.2018.08.003","article-title":"Virtual reality exposure therapy for anxiety and related disorders: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials","volume":"61","author":"Carl","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. 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