Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany.
Psychother Psychosom. 2023;92(3):170-179. doi: 10.1159/000530932. Epub 2023 May 30.
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.
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.
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.
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.
简介/目的：厌食症 (AN) 的治疗效果并不理想，对体重增加的恐惧是治疗结果和复发的强有力预测因素。在这里，我们提出了一种虚拟现实 (VR) 暴露于健康体重的设置，并评估其作为 AN 辅助治疗的潜力。
在两项研究中，我们调查了 20 名高体重担忧或体型担忧的女性和 20 名 AN 患者对 VR 暴露于更高体重的 VR 体验和临床效果。
在研究 1 中，90%的参与者（18/20）报告有高度唤醒症状，但言语恐惧程度为低至中度。研究 2 表明，VR 暴露于健康体重会引起 AN 患者的高度唤醒，并且有四次暴露可改善体重增加恐惧的趋势。探索性分析显示，暴露反应存在三个个体反应群，需要进一步探索。
VR 暴露是一种很好的、强有力的工具，可以在 AN 患者中引发对体重增加的恐惧。我们观察到一个统计趋势，即重复虚拟暴露于健康体重可以改善对体重增加的恐惧，其效果量很大。需要进一步的研究来确定机制和差异影响。
