The use of virtual reality in the treatment of eating disorders.

A high percentage of patients with eating disorders (ED) respond to treatments such as cognitive-behavioural therapy. However, some patients do not progress significantly with these treatments, or suffer relapses. The incorporation of new technologies may help to increase the efficacy of standard treatments. Virtual reality has been successfully used to treat body image disturbances in ED patients and seems a suitable technology for cue exposure therapy in this setting. We review the published literature and discuss the results.