Virtual Reality Exposure to Reduce Food Related Anxiety in Anorexia Nervosa

Patients in this condition are exposed to a virtual kitchen environment once/day, for 5 consecutive days (from Monday, day 1, to Friday, day 5). Each session lasts 5 minutes. The VR environment was specifically developed by the study team (Natali et al, 2024) and it consists of a kitchen with foods of different calorie contents. Patients are invited to explore the environment; they can freely move, open the cupboards and the fridge, and grab and hold the foods. Participants can choose to interact with one of three versions of the virtual kitchen environment: a) a kitchen alone, b) a kitchen with a virtual pet which participants can interact with (and aimed at inducing positive mood) and c) a kitchen with a compassionate avatar which motivates the participant to face food-related fears.

"Patients in this condition complete a session of VR exposure to a natural scenario (from the NatureTreksVR app) for 5 consecutive days (from Monday to Friday), one session/day. Each session lasts 5 minutes. Participants can choose exposure to one of three different natural environments, at the start of each session: a white sand beach (Blue Ocean), a snowy mountain (White Winter), or a forest in autumn foliage (Red Fall)."