"Virtual food" therapy may help people with eating disorders, according to new research from Italy.
- Dr. Alessandra Gorini of the Instituto Auxologico Italiana studied 30 women: ten had anorexia, ten had bulimia, and the other ten had no eating disorders.
- She showed them high-calorie foods and measured their heart rate, perspiration and psychological stress.
- Then she showed them the same foods in "virtual reality", and then photographs of the foods.
- Participants had reactions similar to the virtual foods as to the real ones, but they responded less to the photographs.
Dr. Gorini believes that people with eating orders could build up their confidence by being exposed to "virtual foods," and then gradually be introduced to the real thing. Therapies using real food can actually make eating disorders worse by creating more anxiety in people in treatment.
The study appears in the Annals of General Psychiatry.
Labels: treatment
Posted By: Jane St. Clair
