<p>Many patients with anxiety disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are unwilling to participate in exposure therapy. While willingness to experience unpleasant emotions is associated with the success of exposure therapy, no promising intervention exists to increase this willingness. Therefore, the present study investigated whether willingness to engage in disorder-specific in vivo exposures could be increased by a disorder-<i>non</i>specific exposure session (i.e., public speaking anxiety exposure) in virtual reality (VR-PSA) compared to a physical exercise intervention in VR (VR-Move). VR was used to make the implementation of PSA exposure more feasible as it requires an audience.&#xa0;Ninety inpatients with an anxiety disorder or OCD were included in the present study and were randomized to a single session of VR-PSA (<i>n</i> = 50) or VR-Move (<i>n</i> = 40). One day before and one day after the VR session, willingness to engage in exposure therapy was assessed. Subjective units of distress during VR-PSA (SUD) and the number of exposure sessions during treatment were also recorded.&#xa0;Results showed no significant change in willingness or number of disorder-specific exposure sessions between groups. Change in willingness and the number of self-guided exposures were correlated (<i>r</i> =.42). The SUD peak during the VR-PSA intervention exercises was, on average, below 65 out of a maximum of 100.&#xa0;To conclude, disorder-<i>non</i>specific VR exposure therapy did not increase patients’ willingness, potentially because the variance in willingness was very large. Future studies may only include patients with low willingness. As an increase in willingness was generally associated with increased exposure during treatment, our data tentatively suggests that willingness is an essential first treatment target.</p>