RT Journal Article
T1 AN-VR-BE. A Randomized Controlled Trial for Reducing Fear of Gaining Weight and Other Eating Disorder Symptoms in Anorexia Nervosa through Virtual Reality-Based Body Exposure
A1 Porras Garcia, Bruno
A1 Ferrer Garcia, Marta
A1 Serrano Troncoso, Eduardo
A1 Carulla Roig, Marta
A1 Soto Usera, Pau
A1 Miquel Nabau, Helena
A1 Fernández Del castillo Olivares, Laura
A1 Marnet Fiol, Rosa
A1 de la Montaña Santos Carrasco, Isabel
A1 Borszewski, Bianca
A1 Díaz Marsa, Marina Francisca
A1 Sánchez Díaz, Isabel
A1 Fernández Aranda, Fernando
A1 Gutiérrez Maldonado, José
AB In vivo body exposure therapy is considered an effective and suitable intervention to help patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) reduce their body image disturbances (BIDs). However, these interventions have notable limitations and cannot effectively reproduce certain fears usually found in AN, such as the fear of gaining weight (FGW). The latest developments in virtual reality (VR) technology and embodiment-based procedures could overcome these limitations and allow AN patients to confront their FGW and BIDs. This study aimed to provide further evidence of the efficacy of an enhanced (by means of embodiment) VR-based body exposure therapy for the treatment of AN. Thirty-five AN patients (16 in the experimental group, 19 in the control group) participated in the study. FGW, BIDs, and other body-related and ED measures were assessed before and after the intervention and three months later. The experimental group received treatment as usual (TAU) and five additional sessions of VR-based body exposure therapy, while the control group received only TAU. After the intervention, ED symptoms were clearly reduced in both groups, with most of the changes being more noticeable in the experimental group. Specifically, after the intervention and at follow-up, significant group differences were found in the FGW and BIDs, with the experimental group showing significantly lower values than the control group. The current study provides new insights and encouraging findings in the field of exposure-based therapies in AN. VR technology might improve research and clinical practice in AN by providing new tools to help patients confront their core fears (i.e., food- or weight-related cues) and improve their emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to their body image.
PB MDPI
SN 2077-0383
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7356
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7356
LA eng
NO This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain/Project PID2019-108657RB-I00: Modification of attentional bias, with virtual reality, for improving anorexia nervosa treatment and Project PSI2015-70389-R: Development of virtual reality-based exposure techniques for improving anorexia nervosa treatment) and by AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya, 2017SGR1693.
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya
DS Docta Complutense
RD 22 abr 2025