Virtual reality for enhancing the cognitive behavioral treatment of obesity with binge eating disorder: randomized controlled study with one-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Recent research identifies unhealthful weight-control behaviors (fasting, vomiting, or laxative abuse) induced by a negative experience of the body, as the common antecedents of both obesity and eating disorders. In particular, according to the allocentric lock hypothesis, individuals with obesity may be locked to an allocentric (observer view) negative memory of the body that is no longer updated by contrasting egocentric representations driven by perception. In other words, these patients may be locked to an allocentric negative representation of their body that their sensory inputs are no longer able to update even after a demanding diet and a significant weight loss. OBJECTIVE: To test the brief and long-term clinical efficacy of an enhanced cognitive-behavioral therapy including a virtual reality protocol aimed at unlocking the negative memory of the body (ECT) in morbidly obese patients with binge eating disorders (BED) compared with standard cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and an inpatient multimodal treatment (IP) on weight loss, weight loss maintenance, BED remission, and body satisfaction improvement, including psychonutritional groups, a low-calorie diet (1200 kcal/day), and physical training. METHODS: 90 obese (BMI>40) female patients with BED upon referral to an obesity rehabilitation center were randomly assigned to conditions (31 to ECT, 30 to CBT, and 29 to IP). Before treatment completion, 24 patients discharged themselves from hospital (4 in ECT, 10 in CBT, and 10 in IP). The remaining 66 inpatients received either 15 sessions of ECT, 15 sessions of CBT, or no additional treatment over a 5-week usual care inpatient regimen (IP). ECT and CBT treatments were administered by 3 licensed psychotherapists, and patients were blinded to conditions. At start, upon completion of the inpatient treatment, and at 1-year follow-up, patients' weight, number of binge eating episodes during the previous month, and body satisfaction were assessed by self-report questionnaires and compared across conditions. 22 patients who received all sessions did not provide follow-up data (9 in ECT, 6 in CBT, and 7 in IP). RESULTS: Only ECT was effective at improving weight loss at 1-year follow-up. Conversely, control participants regained on average most of the weight they had lost during the inpatient program. Binge eating episodes decreased to zero during the inpatient program but were reported again in all the three groups at 1-year follow-up. However, a substantial regain was observed only in the group who received the inpatient program alone, while both ECT and CBT were successful in maintaining a low rate of monthly binge eating episodes. CONCLUSIONS: Despite study limitations, findings support the hypothesis that the integration of a VR-based treatment, aimed at both unlocking the negative memory of the body and at modifying its behavioral and emotional correlates, may improve the long-term outcome of a treatment for obese BED patients. As expected, the VR-based treatment, in comparison with the standard CBT approach, was able to better prevent weight regain but not to better manage binge eating episodes.

Is severe obesity a form of addiction? Rationale, clinical approach, and controlled clinical trial.

For many, obesity is just a problem of energy input and expenditure: more energy input than expenditure. However, the clinical practice and epidemiological data clearly show that weight control is more complex than expected by this simple equation. This is particularly true in morbid obesity, a form of severe obesity in which a person's Body Mass Index (BMI, kg/m(2)) is over 40. If we compare the definitions and diagnostic criteria for "dependence" and "addiction" with the situation of many severe obese subjects, it is apparent that they match very well. Further, different neurological studies confirm this similarity: both addiction and obesity patients have a deficiency of dopamine receptors. Nevertheless, when we compare many of the actual obesity treatments with the ones used in the area of addictions it is possible to find relevant differences: obesity treatments neither consider different levels of type and intensity of care, nor a multidimensional approach. To overcome these limitations, in this paper we propose a bio-psychosocial approach in which the genetic influence (lack of dopamine receptors) is matched by psychosocial issues (pressure for thinness and diet as main body image dissatisfaction treatment). Further, the paper outlines how this approach may influence the treatment options, by focusing both on the lessons coming from actual addiction treatment and the opportunities offered by virtual reality. Finally, the paper presents and discusses the outcome of a controlled trial, based on the proposed approach, including a 6-month follow-up (211 morbid obese females with a BMI of >40 and a documented history of failures.

Virtual Reality-Enhanced Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Morbid Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Study with 1 Year Follow-Up.

It is well known that obesity has a multifactorial etiology, including biological, environmental, and psychological causes. For this reason, obesity treatment requires a more integrated approach than the standard behavioral treatment based on dietary and physical activity only. To test the long-term efficacy of an enhanced cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) of obesity, including a virtual reality (VR) module aimed at both unlocking the negative memory of the body and to modify its behavioral and emotional correlates, 163 female morbidly obese inpatients (body mass index >40) were randomly assigned to three conditions: a standard behavioral inpatient program (SBP), SBP plus standard CBT, and SBP plus VR-enhanced CBT. Patients' weight, eating behavior, and body dissatisfaction were measured at the start and upon completion of the inpatient program. Weight was assessed also at 1 year follow-up. All measures improved significantly at discharge from the inpatient program, and no significant difference was found among the conditions. However, odds ratios showed that patients in the VR condition had a greater probability of maintaining or improving weight loss at 1 year follow-up than SBP patients had (48% vs. 11%, p = 0.004) and, to a lesser extent, than CBT patients had (48% vs. 29%, p = 0.08). Indeed, only the VR-enhanced CBT was effective in further improving weight loss at 1 year follow-up. On the contrary, participants who received only the inpatient program regained back, on average, most of the weight they had lost. Findings support the hypothesis that a VR module addressing the locked negative memory of the body may enhance the long-term efficacy of standard CBT.

Virtual-reality-based multidimensional therapy for the treatment of body image disturbances in binge eating disorders: a preliminary controlled study.

The main goal of this paper is to preliminarily evaluate the efficacy of a virtual-reality (VR)-based multidimensional approach in the treatment of body image attitudes and related constructs. The female binge eating disorder (BED) patients (n = 20), involved in a residential weight control treatment including low-calorie diet (1200 cal/day) and physical training, were randomly assigned either to the multidimensional VR treatment or to psychonutritional groups based on the cognitive-behavior approach. Patients were administered a battery of outcome measures assessing eating disorders symptomathology, attitudes toward food, body dissatisfaction, level of anxiety, motivation for change, level of assertiveness, and general psychiatric symptoms. In the short term, the VR treatment was more effective than the traditional cognitive-behavioral psychonutritional groups in improving the overall psychological state of the patients. In particular, the therapy was more effective in improving body satisfaction, self-efficacy, and motivation for change. No significant differences were found in the reduction of the binge eating behavior. The possibility of inducing a significant change in body image and its associated behaviors using a VR-based short-term therapy can be useful to improve the body satisfaction in traditional weight reduction programs. However, given the nature of this research that does not include a followup study, the obtained results are preliminary only.

The use of VR in the treatment of eating disorders.

In the treatment of eating disorders, the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is still considered the best approach but could present different limitations related to costs of behavioural procedures (such as exposure and desensitization) or difficulty of cognitive techniques (such as imagination of daily scenarios). The major aim of this contribution is the description of a new Virtual Reality-enhanced treatment named Experiential Cognitive Therapy (ECT). Rationale and protocols about this new approach are explained. Moreover data about clinical trials, carried on with the VEPSY Project, are shown comparing different groups: experimental group (ECT), cognitive-behavioural therapy group (CBT), nutritional group and control group.

e-health in eating disorders: Virtual Reality and telemedicine in assessment and treatment.

e-health, the integration of telehealth technologies with the Internet and shared virtual reality could become a significant enabler of consumer health initiatives. In fact, they provide an increasingly accessible communication channel for a growing part of the population. In the past decade medical applications of virtual reality (VR) and telemedicine have been rapidly developing, and the technology has changed from a research curiosity to a commercially and clinically important area of medical informatics technology. The chapter details the characteristics of the Experiential Cognitive Therapy (ECT), an integrated inpatient/outpatient (4 weeks) and telemedicine approach (24 weeks) that tries to enhance the classical cognitive-behavioral method used in the treatment of eating disorders, through VR sessions and telemedicine support in the follow-up stage. Particularly, using VR and telemedicine, ECT is able to address body experience disturbances, interpersonal relationships, self efficacy and motivation to change, key issues for the development and maintenance of eating disorders that are somehow neglected by actual clinical guidelines.