Virtual reality based experiential cognitive treatment of anorexia nervosa

Analysis of assets for virtual reality applications in neuropsychology

“…These are application areas that require the presence of human representations to effectively target the specific fear structure in treatment. Some of these applications have used two-dimensional photographic paste-ups of human forms (Moore, Wiederhold, Wiederhold, & Riva, 2002;Riva et al, 1999). Such applications allow the clinician to select the number of avatars that appear in the scenario (i.e., supermarkets, parties, auditoriums, subways, etc.)…”

Applications of 3D Simulation in Mental Health: Utilities and New Developments

“…At the same time, these results have been confirmed by other studies with (Riva, et al 2000) and without controls (Riva et al, 2002. Perpiñá et al (1999Perpiñá et al ( , 2002) also developed six VR environments for treating body image, which are very similar to those developed by Riva et al (1999), recreating scenes similar to those described above, simulating a kitchen where food can be eaten, where the person has to say what his weight is after eating, and his subjective and desired weight. After that, there is a scene with different body constitutions.…”

“…The last scene consists of a corridor which ends in four rooms of different sizes where the person can only go through the door that coincides with the width of his body. Case studies have shown the effectiveness of this type of treatment in improving awareness of own body image and significantly reducing dissatisfaction with it, and as the authors point out, the person showed strong motivation to change after intervention (Riva et al, 1999). At the same time, these results have been confirmed by other studies with (Riva, et al 2000) and without controls (Riva et al, 2002.…”

“…One of the groups that have shown the most interest in studying and in the possible applications of VR to this field has been Riva and collaborators. This group created a 3D simulation environment called Virtual Environment for Body Image Modification or VEBIM (Riva, 1999) which was directed at treating body image distortion and dissatisfaction with one's body which is usually associated with this type of disorder. This treatment, which has become known as Experiential Cognitive Therapy, combines traditional cognitivebehavioral intervention with the use of VR environments.…”

Virtual Reality in Evidence-Based Psychotherapy

“…It is not the scope of this chapter to offer a comprehensive review of these applications, but we mention some of them as follows (but see Glantz et al, 2003 andKrijn et al, 2004 for reviews). Experiential Cognitive Therapy was developed by Giuseppe Riva and his colleagues (Riva, 1998;Riva et al, 1999;Riva et al, 2002) to address obesity and eating disorders, particularly body image disturbance and the negative emotions associated with it. The VR component is integrated into a CBT approach and it consists of exposing patients to critical contexts and stimuli (e.g., kitchen, restaurant, commercials) and helping them deal with their emotional reactions and develop adaptive coping strategies.…”