Virtual reality in the treatment of eating disorders

Riva, Giuseppe; Malighetti, Clelia; Serino, Silvia

doi:10.1002/cpp.2622

Cited by 52 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 88 publications

(155 reference statements)

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“…Presently, over 30 randomized control trials support VR exposure therapy (VRET) as an effective treatment for anxiety-related disorders (i.e., phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder), with equivalent effect sizes (10) and attrition rates compared to in vivo exposure therapy (11,12). Moreover, there is growing evidence supporting its utility in assessing and treating a broader range of conditions including autism-spectrum disorders, addiction, depression, eating disorders, pain, and psychosis (13,14). The potential benefits of VR are numerous.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Australian Mental Health Services Ready for Therapeutic Virtual Reality? An Investigation of Knowledge, Attitudes, Implementation Barriers and Enablers

et al. 2022

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Therapeutic virtual reality (VR) has the potential to address the challenges of equitable delivery of evidence-based psychological treatment. However, little is known about therapeutic VR regarding the perspectives and needs of real-world service providers. This exploratory study aimed to assess the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of therapeutic VR among clinicians, managers, and service staff working in mental healthcare and explore potential implementation barriers and enablers. Eighty-one staff from a network of private psychiatric hospitals in Victoria, Australia (aged M + SD: 41.88 + 12.01 years, 71.6% female; 64% clinical staff) completed an online survey, which included the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM), Appropriateness of Intervention Measure (IAM), and Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM). While 91% of participants had heard about VR technology, only 40% of participants had heard of therapeutic VR being used in mental healthcare, and none had used therapeutic VR in a clinical setting. Most participants perceived VR to be acceptable (84%), appropriate (69%), and feasible (59%) to implement within their role or service and envisioned a range of possible applications. However, participants expressed concerns regarding safety, efficacy, and logistical challenges across clinical settings. Findings suggest a strong interest for therapeutic VR among Australian mental health providers working in the private system. However, dissemination efforts should focus on addressing identified barriers to ensure mental health providers are adequately informed and empowered to make implementation decisions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Australian Mental Health Services Ready for Therapeutic Virtual Reality? An Investigation of Knowledge, Attitudes, Implementation Barriers and Enablers

et al. 2022

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“…The VR cue exposure (VR-CE) and VR reference frame shifting (VR-RFS) are two VR-based cognitive behavioral approaches that are often used in the case of eating disorders, but also increasingly for obesity. While the VR-CE targets symptoms like food cravings and food-related anxiety to reduce overeating ( 10 , 11 ), the VR-RFS targets negative memories of the body that are expected to possibly result in eating disorders or obesity to modify disturbances in body self-perception ( 11 , 12 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitude of Nutrition Experts Toward Psychotherapy and Virtual Reality as Part of Obesity Treatment—An Online Survey

et al. 2022

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BackgroundThe management of obesity requires lifestyle-based interventions covering nutrition, physical activity, and behavior. As part of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), body image therapy approaches can be used not only by psychotherapists. One tool to conduct behavioral therapy is virtual reality (VR). It is unknown, whether nutrition experts conduct behavioral therapy, and whether they would like to use VR technology as a tool to conduct body image therapy as part of obesity management.ObjectiveThis survey aimed to collect data from nutrition experts treating people with obesity about the status quo regarding behavioral and body image therapy as part of obesity management, and regarding their attitude toward VR in obesity therapy.MethodsThe survey was conducted online in autumn 2020. Participants were recruited digitally through expert and professional associations. The standardized questionnaire included items concerning sociodemographic, professional status, behavioral therapy, body image, and VR. The descriptive analysis was performed with Excel, the subgroup analyses with R.ResultsData from 158 nutrition experts was analyzed. Participants were mostly female (98/102, 96.1%) and had a mean age of 45.6 ± 11.3 years (n = 101). Most of the survey participants (93/124, 75.0%) stated to use behavioral treatment methods in case of weight reduction as the primary target. More than half of the participants stated to address body image (99/150, 66.0%). Almost all (111/112, 99.1%) nutrition experts have never used VR-glasses. The suitability and importance of VR technology as part of obesity therapy was estimated as neutral by around 50%. Overall, no statistically significant difference could be shown between age groups regarding attitudes toward VR in obesity treatment.ConclusionThe results of this non-representative survey indicate that nutrition experts do not use VR technology in nutrition counseling sessions to treat obesity. In addition, survey participants have a positive attitude to VR technology, whereas they are not familiar with this technology. In future, VR technology might support nutrition experts of every age using elements of body image therapy.Survey RegistrationThe German Register of Clinical Studies (Registration Number: DRKS00022853).

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“…Interestingly, it has been found that people with AN are more susceptible to bodily illusions compared to healthy controls, with enhanced sensitivity for visual manipulations of the body self ( Crucianelli and Filippetti, 2020 ). This led researchers to investigate the beneficial use of IVR to treat eating disorders through the full body illusion ( Riva et al, 2021 ). The visuo-tactile stimulation of the real and virtual body is an effective way to make individuals with AN feel as they own the virtual body, thus allowing the assessment and modification of their body image ( Serino et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Using Virtual Realities On Social Purpose: How To Foster Social Connection Among the Most Disconnected Individualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpersonal Affective Touch in a Virtual World: Feeling the Social Presence of Others to Overcome Loneliness

2022

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Humans are by nature social beings tuned to communicate and interact from the very beginning of their lives. The sense of touch represents the most direct and intimate channel of communication and a powerful means of connection between the self and the others. In our digital age, the development and diffusion of internet-based technologies and virtual environments offer new opportunities of communication overcoming physical distance. It however, happens that social interactions are often mediated, and the tactile aspects of communication are overlooked, thus diminishing the feeling of social presence, which may contribute to an increased sense of social disconnection and loneliness. The current manuscript aims to review the extant literature about the socio-affective dimension of touch and current advancements in interactive virtual environments in order to provide a new perspective on multisensory virtual communication. Specifically, we suggest that interpersonal affective touch might critically impact virtual social exchanges, promoting a sense of co-presence and social connection between individuals, possibly overcoming feelings of sensory loneliness. This topic of investigation will be of crucial relevance from a theoretical perspective aiming to understand how we integrate multisensory signals in processing and making sense of interpersonal exchanges, this is important in both typical and atypical populations. Moreover, it will pave the way to promising applications by exploring the possibility to use technical innovations to communicate more interactively in the case of people who suffer from social isolation and disconnection from others.

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Virtual reality in the treatment of eating disorders

Cited by 52 publications

References 88 publications

Are Australian Mental Health Services Ready for Therapeutic Virtual Reality? An Investigation of Knowledge, Attitudes, Implementation Barriers and Enablers

Are Australian Mental Health Services Ready for Therapeutic Virtual Reality? An Investigation of Knowledge, Attitudes, Implementation Barriers and Enablers

Attitude of Nutrition Experts Toward Psychotherapy and Virtual Reality as Part of Obesity Treatment—An Online Survey

Interpersonal Affective Touch in a Virtual World: Feeling the Social Presence of Others to Overcome Loneliness

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