Smartphone-Based Exposure Treatment for Dental Anxiety

"Exposure therapy is a form of behavior therapy that is widely used to treat anxiety disorders, including specific phobia. It involves systematic and repeated confrontation with a feared stimulus. It works by (a) implosive therapy, habituation, in which repeated exposure reduces anxiety over time by a process of extinction; (b) disconfirming fearful predictions; and (c) increasing feelings of self-efficacy and mastery. In vivo exposure \[is\] a type of exposure therapy, generally used for treating individuals with phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, and other anxiety disorders, in which the client directly experiences anxiety-provoking situations or stimuli in real-world conditions. (VandenBos, 2015)"