Perceiving Systems, Computer Vision

Virtual Reality Exposure to a Healthy Weight Body Is a Promising Adjunct Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa

2023

Article

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Introduction/Objective: Treatment results of anorexia nervosa (AN) are modest, with fear of weight gain being a strong predictor of treatment outcome and relapse. Here, we present a virtual reality (VR) setup for exposure to healthy weight and evaluate its potential as an adjunct treatment for AN. Methods: In two studies, we investigate VR experience and clinical effects of VR exposure to higher weight in 20 women with high weight concern or shape concern and in 20 women with AN. Results: In study 1, 90% of participants (18/20) reported symptoms of high arousal but verbalized low to medium levels of fear. Study 2 demonstrated that VR exposure to healthy weight induced high arousal in patients with AN and yielded a trend that four sessions of exposure improved fear of weight gain. Explorative analyses revealed three clusters of individual reactions to exposure, which need further exploration. Conclusions: VR exposure is a well-accepted and powerful tool for evoking fear of weight gain in patients with AN. We observed a statistical trend that repeated virtual exposure to healthy weight improved fear of weight gain with large effect sizes. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms and differential effects.

Author(s): Simone C Behrens and Joachim Tesch and Philine JB Sun and Sebastian Starke and Michael J Black and Hannah Schneider and Jacopo Pruccoli and Stephan Zipfel and Katrin E Giel
Journal: Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
Volume: 92
Number (issue): 3
Pages: 170--179
Year: 2023
Month: June
Department(s): Perceiving Systems
Bibtex Type: Article (article)
Paper Type: Journal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1159/000530932
Links: on-line

BibTex 

@article{Behrens:VR:2023,
  title = {Virtual Reality Exposure to a Healthy Weight Body Is a Promising Adjunct Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa},
  author = {Behrens, Simone C and Tesch, Joachim and Sun, Philine JB and Starke, Sebastian and Black, Michael J and Schneider, Hannah and Pruccoli, Jacopo and Zipfel, Stephan and Giel, Katrin E},
  journal = {Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics},
  volume = {92},
  number = {3},
  pages = {170--179},
  month = jun,
  year = {2023},
  doi = {https://doi.org/10.1159/000530932},
  month_numeric = {6}
}