TY - JOUR
T1 - Harnessing Immersive Virtual Reality: A Comprehensive Scoping Review of its Applications in Assessing, Understanding, and Treating Eating Disorders
AU - Di Natale, Anna Flavia
AU - Pizzoli, Silvia Francesca Maria
AU - Brizzi, Giulia
AU - Di Lernia, Daniele
AU - Frisone, Fabio
AU - Gaggioli, Andrea
AU - Rabarbari, Elisa
AU - Oasi, Osmano
AU - Repetto, Claudia
AU - Rossi, Chiara
AU - Scerrati, Elisa
AU - Villani, Daniela
AU - Riva, Giuseppe
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - BackgroundImmersive Virtual Reality (IVR) has shown promise in the assessment, understanding, and treatment of eating disorders (EDs), providing a dynamic platform for clinical innovation. This scoping review aims to synthesize the recent advancements and applications of IVR in addressing these complex psychological disorders.MethodsThis review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Protocols, focusing on studies published in the past five years. It included peer-reviewed papers that used IVR for ED assessment, examination, or treatment. A comprehensive database search provided a selection of relevant articles, which were then methodically screened and analyzed.ResultsTwenty studies met the inclusion criteria, with a primary focus on Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), and Binge Eating Disorder (BED). The application of IVR was categorized into three areas: assessment, understanding, and treatment. IVR was found to be an effective tool in assessing body image distortions and emotional responses to food, providing insights that are less accessible through traditional methods. Furthermore, IVR offers innovative treatment approaches by facilitating exposure therapy, modifying body-related biases, and enabling emotional regulation through embodied experiences. The studies demonstrate IVR's potential to improve body image accuracy, reduce food-related anxieties, and support behavioral changes in ED patients.ConclusionIVR stands out as a transformative technology in the field of EDs, offering comprehensive benefits across diagnostic, therapeutic, and experiential domains. The IVR's ability to simulate the brain's predictive coding mechanisms provides a powerful avenue for delivering embodied, experiential interventions that can help recalibrate distorted body representations and dysfunctional affective predictive models implicated in EDs. Future research should continue to refine these applications, ensuring consistent methodologies and wider clinical trials to fully harness IVR's potential in clinical settings.
AB - BackgroundImmersive Virtual Reality (IVR) has shown promise in the assessment, understanding, and treatment of eating disorders (EDs), providing a dynamic platform for clinical innovation. This scoping review aims to synthesize the recent advancements and applications of IVR in addressing these complex psychological disorders.MethodsThis review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Protocols, focusing on studies published in the past five years. It included peer-reviewed papers that used IVR for ED assessment, examination, or treatment. A comprehensive database search provided a selection of relevant articles, which were then methodically screened and analyzed.ResultsTwenty studies met the inclusion criteria, with a primary focus on Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), and Binge Eating Disorder (BED). The application of IVR was categorized into three areas: assessment, understanding, and treatment. IVR was found to be an effective tool in assessing body image distortions and emotional responses to food, providing insights that are less accessible through traditional methods. Furthermore, IVR offers innovative treatment approaches by facilitating exposure therapy, modifying body-related biases, and enabling emotional regulation through embodied experiences. The studies demonstrate IVR's potential to improve body image accuracy, reduce food-related anxieties, and support behavioral changes in ED patients.ConclusionIVR stands out as a transformative technology in the field of EDs, offering comprehensive benefits across diagnostic, therapeutic, and experiential domains. The IVR's ability to simulate the brain's predictive coding mechanisms provides a powerful avenue for delivering embodied, experiential interventions that can help recalibrate distorted body representations and dysfunctional affective predictive models implicated in EDs. Future research should continue to refine these applications, ensuring consistent methodologies and wider clinical trials to fully harness IVR's potential in clinical settings.
KW - Assessment
KW - Body image
KW - Body swap
KW - Virtual exposure therapy
KW - Eating disorders
KW - Immersive virtual reality
KW - Treatment
KW - Cue exposure
KW - Assessment
KW - Body image
KW - Body swap
KW - Virtual exposure therapy
KW - Eating disorders
KW - Immersive virtual reality
KW - Treatment
KW - Cue exposure
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/294516
U2 - 10.1007/s11920-024-01523-2
DO - 10.1007/s11920-024-01523-2
M3 - Article
SN - 1523-3812
VL - 26
SP - 470
EP - 486
JO - Current Psychiatry Reports
JF - Current Psychiatry Reports
ER -