Application of Virtual Reality-Cue Exposure Therapy for Reducing Alcohol Craving

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Kwon ◽  
J. Choi ◽  
S. Roh ◽  
B-H. Yang ◽  
J-H. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Cue Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Craving

Application of Virtual Reality-Cue Exposure Therapy for Reducing Alcohol Craving

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyoseok Kwon ◽  
Sungwon Roh ◽  
Joonho Choi ◽  
Byung-Hwan Yang ◽  
Jang-Han Lee
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Cue Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Craving

scholarly journals Attentional Bias, Alcohol Craving, and Anxiety Implications of the Virtual Reality Cue-Exposure Therapy in Severe Alcohol Use Disorder: A Case Report

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Ghiţă ◽  
Olga Hernández-Serrano ◽  
Jolanda Fernández-Ruiz ◽  
Manuel Moreno ◽  
Miquel Monras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Case Report ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Alcohol Use Disorder ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Cue Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Craving ◽  
Booster Sessions ◽  
Therapy Sessions

Aims: Attentional bias (AB), alcohol craving, and anxiety have important implications in the development and maintenance of alcohol use disorder (AUD). The current study aims to test the effectiveness of a Virtual Reality Cue-Exposure Therapy (VR-CET) to reduce levels of alcohol craving and anxiety and prompt changes in AB toward alcohol content.Method: A 49-year-old male participated in this study, diagnosed with severe AUD, who also used tobacco and illicit substances on an occasional basis and who made several failed attempts to cease substance misuse. The protocol consisted of six VR-CET booster sessions and two assessment sessions (pre- and post-VR-CET) over the course of 5 weeks. The VR-CET program consisted of booster therapy sessions based on virtual reality (VR) exposure to preferred alcohol-related cues and contexts. The initial and final assessment sessions were focused on exploring AB, alcohol craving, and anxiety using paper-and-pencil instruments and the eye-tracking (ET) and VR technologies at different time points.Results: Pre and post assessment sessions indicated falls on the scores of all instruments assessing alcohol craving, anxiety, and AB.Conclusions: This case report, part of a larger project, demonstrates the effectiveness of the VR-CET booster sessions in AUD. In the post-treatment measurements, a variety of instruments showed a change in the AB pattern and an improvement in craving and anxiety responses. As a result of the systematic desensitization, virtual exposure gradually reduced the responses to significant alcohol-related cues and contexts. The implications for AB, anxiety and craving are discussed.

scholarly journals Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1511
Author(s):  
Katherine Nameth ◽  
Theresa Brown ◽  
Kim Bullock ◽  
Sarah Adler ◽  
Giuseppe Riva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Binge Eating ◽  
Real World ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Post Treatment ◽  
Cue Exposure ◽  
Treatment Gains ◽  
Intent To Treat

Binge-eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN) have adverse psychological and medical consequences. Innovative interventions, like the integration of virtual reality (VR) with cue-exposure therapy (VR-CET), enhance outcomes for refractory patients compared to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of translating VR-CET into real-world settings. To investigate this question, adults previously treated for BED or BN with at least one objective or subjective binge episode/week were recruited from an outpatient university eating disorder clinic to receive up to eight weekly one-hour VR-CET sessions. Eleven of 16 (68.8%) eligible patients were enrolled; nine (82%) completed treatment; and 82% (9/11) provided follow-up data 7.1 (SD = 2.12) months post-treatment. Overall, participant and therapist acceptability of VR-CET was high. Intent-to-treat objective binge episodes (OBEs) decreased significantly from 3.3 to 0.9/week (p < 0.001). Post-treatment OBE 7-day abstinence rate for completers was 56%, with 22% abstinent for 28 days at follow-up. Among participants purging at baseline, episodes decreased from a mean of one to zero/week, with 100% abstinence maintained at follow-up. The adoption of VR-CET into real-world clinic settings appears feasible and acceptable, with a preliminary signal of effectiveness. Findings, including some loss of treatment gains during follow-up may inform future treatment development.

scholarly journals Identifying Triggers of Alcohol Craving to Develop Effective Virtual Environments for Cue Exposure Therapy

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Ghiţă ◽  
Lidia Teixidor ◽  
Miquel Monras ◽  
Lluisa Ortega ◽  
Silvia Mondon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Cue Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Craving

scholarly journals Translating Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy for Binge Eating into a Real-World Setting: A Pilot Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Nameth ◽  
Theresa Brown ◽  
Kim Bullock ◽  
Sarah Adler ◽  
Giuseppe Riva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Binge Eating ◽  
Real World ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Post Treatment ◽  
Cue Exposure ◽  
Treatment Gains ◽  
Intent To Treat

Binge-eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN) have adverse psychological and medical consequences. Novel interventions, like the integration of virtual reality (VR) with cue-exposure therapy (VR-CET), enhance outcomes for refractory patients compared to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of translating VR-CET into real-world settings. To investigate this question, adults previously treated for BED or BN with at least one objective or subjective binge episode/week were recruited from an outpatient University eating disorder clinic to receive up to eight weekly one-hour VR-CET sessions. Eleven of 16 (68.8%) eligible patients enrolled; nine (82%) completed treatment; 82% (9/11) provided follow-up data 7.1 (SD=2.12) months post-treatment. Overall, participant and therapist acceptability of VR-CET was high. Intent-to-treat objective binge episodes (OBEs) decreased significantly from 3.3 to 0.9/week (p &amp;lt; .001). Post-treatment OBE 7-day abstinence rate for completers was 56%, with 22% abstinent for 28 days at follow-up. Among participants purging at baseline, episodes decreased from a mean of one to zero/week, with 100% abstinence maintained at follow-up. The adoption of VR-CET into real-world clinic settings appears feasible and acceptable, with a preliminary signal of efficacy. Findings, including some loss of treatment gains during follow-up may inform future treatment development.

scholarly journals Bringing Virtual Reality From Clinical Trials to Clinical Practice for the Treatment of Eating Disorders: An Example Using Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy

10.2196/16386 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. e16386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Brown ◽  
Emily Nauman Vogel ◽  
Sarah Adler ◽  
Cara Bohon ◽  
Kim Bullock ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Intervention Development ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Cue Exposure

Novel treatment options for eating disorders (EDs) are critically needed to enhance treatment outcomes and reduce the rates of treatment dropouts. On average, only 50% of individuals receiving evidence-based care remit, whereas 24% drop out before treatment completion. One particularly promising direction involves integrating virtual reality (VR) with existing evidence-based treatments (EBTs) such as cue exposure therapy (CET). Across psychiatric disorders, VR-based interventions are demonstrating at least preliminary efficacy and noninferiority to traditional treatments. Furthermore, VR technology has become increasingly portable, resulting in improved acceptance, increased access, and reductions in cost. However, more efficient research processes may be needed to uncover the potential benefits of these rapid technological advances. This viewpoint paper reviews existing empirical support for integrating VR with EBTs (with a focus on its use with EDs) and proposes key next steps to more rapidly bring this innovative technology-based intervention into real-world clinic settings, as warranted. VR-CET for EDs is used to illustrate a suggested process for developing such treatment enhancements. We recommend following a deployment-focused model of intervention development and testing to enable rapid implementation of robust, practice-ready treatments. In addition, our review highlights the need for a comprehensive clinical protocol that supports clinicians and researchers in the implementation and testing of VR-CET and identifies key missing protocol components with rationale for their inclusion. Ultimately, this work may lead to a more complete understanding of the full potential of the applications and integrations of VR into mental health care globally.

scholarly journals Predictors of Changes in Alcohol Craving Levels during a Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Treatment among Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 3018
Author(s):  
Olga Hernández-Serrano ◽  
Alexandra Ghiţă ◽  
Natàlia Figueras-Puigderrajols ◽  
Jolanda Fernández-Ruiz ◽  
Miquel Monras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Alcohol Use Disorder ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
Cue Exposure ◽  
Treatment As Usual ◽  
Alcohol Craving ◽  
Predictive Variables ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Civil Status

Background/Objective: Determining the predictive variables associated with levels of alcohol craving can ease the identification of patients who can benefit from treatments. This study aimed to describe changes (improvement or no change/deterioration) in alcohol craving levels and explore the predictors of these changes from admission to discharge in outpatients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) undergoing treatment-as-usual (TAU), or treatment-as-usual supplemented with virtual reality cue-exposure therapy (TAU + VR-CET). Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted amongst 42 outpatients with AUD (n = 15 TAU + VR-CET and n = 27 TAU) from a clinical setting. Changes in the levels of alcohol craving between admission and discharge were assessed with the Multidimensional Alcohol Craving Scale. Sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, education, and socioeconomic and civil status), cognitive-affective behavioral patterns (AUD severity, abstinence duration, psychiatric comorbidity, state anxiety, attentional bias, and substance use), and type of treatment (TAU + VR-CET and only TAU) were also evaluated. Results: The TAU + VR-CET group showed greater changes of improvement in the levels of alcohol craving than the TAU group (χ2 = 10.996; p = 0.001). Intragroup changes in alcohol craving from pre to post-treatment were significant in the TAU + VR-CET group (χ2 = 13.818; p = 0.003) but not within the TAU group (χ2 = 2.349; p = 0.503). The odds of an improvement in any of the craving levels between pre- and post-test was 18.18 (1/0.055) times higher in the TAU + VR-CET group with respect to the TAU group. The use of illicit drugs in the month prior to the test increased the odds of having a positive change by 18.18 (1/0.055) with respect to not having consumed. Conclusions: Including VR-CET in TAU programs may provide benefits in the treatment of AUDs mainly among patients with intense alcohol craving and individuals having used illicit substances prior to treatment.

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