Virtual reality displays 80% effectiveness, with benefits that are maintained more than a year after treatment (Eric Malbos, psychiatrist).
Graduated exposure helps regulate excessive consumption and work on false beliefs related to food.
Confronting a patient suffering from eating disorders in a supermarket, a fitting room or a shared meal can be relevant in the support. Reproducing these situations in consultation is not always easy.
Some depend on an external context or the presence of third parties (sellers, other customers, guests), while the choice of foods offered and the progression of the exposure remain difficult to control.
Virtual reality makes it possible to recreate these situations directly in the office, in a controlled and reproducible environment, without depending on a location or a third party.
The C2Care environments make it possible to recreate situations associated with eating and body image and gradually integrate them into the practitioner's protocol.
In a virtual supermarket, the patient is exposed to the shelves and product choices. In a virtual kitchen, he composes a meal and receives feedback on his composition. Faced with anxiety-provoking foods or in a fitting room, he may be confronted with stimuli that arouse anxiety or irresistible attraction.
These situations can be repeated and graduated in order to work with the patient on the food craving, as well as on the thoughts, emotions and bodily perceptions associated with the disorder.
VRET
The practitioner seats the patient on a swivel chair and fits them with the virtual reality headset
Using the control interface, the practitioner selects the environment suited to the session's goals and starts the exposure.
During immersion, the practitioner supports the patient using a visual feed and can adjust the exposure scene in real time
Environments
Each environment reproduces a situation related to eating or body image for graduated exposure.
The patient may move into an empty supermarket or a progressively busier one.
This environment allows you to work on your perception of the body, which is often distorted in eating disorders.
With C2Nutri, the patient composes e-meals and receives immediate feedback on the nutritional values.
Candy, fast food, chocolates: several environments cover different types of food, a source of anxiety or irresistible attraction, to work on these difficult emotions.
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Solène Montègue
Neuropsychiatrist
The developments C2Care is currently integrating into the interface are very promising and meet the established therapeutic objectives [...]: offering tailored exercises that can be adapted to levels of dependency, cognitive disorders, and patients' real-time responses.
Samia Lahya
Psychiatrist
With the acquisition of new equipment [...] and updates to the C2Care programs, its use has expanded even further: OCD, phobias, addictions, anxiety disorders, depression, and PTSD. Ten years later, it is no longer merely a curiosity, but a genuine therapeutic tool that is stimulating, innovative, and effective.
Sabrina Gineau
Psychologist
I incorporate this technology into brief therapies lasting two to four months, with one session per week. I begin with relaxation techniques and, when patients are ready, we proceed. It makes it much easier to expose people to these situations.
Noël Schepers
Psychologist
Virtual reality can enrich and personalize treatment, facilitate patient-therapist collaboration in developing the treatment plan, and add a playful dimension. The possibilities for development and application are immense and extend to every area of psychology and psychotherapy.
Mélanie Boucherot
Psychologist
The value of this technology [C2Care] lies in offering new possibilities for therapeutic support and expanding the range of tools available to healthcare professionals.
François Maltese
Psychologist
For several months, we have been using virtual reality in habituation therapies. Before the procedure, patients are progressively and immersively exposed to their future medical environment and psychologically prepared to accept it.
Dre Marie-Claude Roberge
Doctor of Psychology
Since 2022, we have been using virtual reality therapy with the C2Care platform to simulate exposure to aversive stimuli and triggers that cause anxiety. Exposure therapy is used to treat specific phobias, including fear of heights, enclosed spaces, flying, dogs, emetophobia, and many others.
Dr Laure Du Pouget
Urologist
Using a virtual reality headset for self-hypnosis during prostate biopsies creates a calm atmosphere for a procedure that can sometimes be uncomfortable, even with effective local anesthesia...
Delphine Py
Psychologist
Thank you to C2Care for providing innovative virtual reality solutions to support CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)! A major step forward in making exposure exercises easier and helping our patients overcome their phobias.
Magrini et al. — Anorexia nervosa, body image perception and therapeutic applications in virtual reality
Anorexia Nervosa, Body Image Perception and Virtual Reality Therapeutic Applications: State of the Art and Operational Proposal
Marco et al. — Effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy supported by virtual reality in the treatment of body image
Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy supported by virtual reality in the treatment of body image in eating disorders: one year follow-up
Butler et al. — Exposure therapy for eating disorders
Exposure therapy for eating disorders: a systematic review
Clus et al. — Use of virtual reality in patients with eating disorders
The Use of Virtual Reality in Patients with Eating Disorders: Systematic Review
Riva et al. — Multidimensional Virtual Reality Therapy for Body Image Disorders in Binge Eating Disorder
Virtual-reality-based multidimensional therapy for the treatment of body image disturbances in binge eating disorders: a preliminary controlled study
Discover more
Depending on your patients' needs, other areas may also be relevant to explore. Discover the different environments available in C2Care.
Create a free account to discover all exposure situations and subscribe directly online
FAQ
Here are the answers to the most frequently asked questions from practitioners about the management of eating disorders using virtual reality.
Virtual reality exposure therapies have been used for over 30 years to support eating disorders. C2Care has been testing its software in hospitals since 2016.
The patient receives a virtual reality headset and has sessions with a psychologist, two sessions per month. He is gradually exposed to environments related to his disorder, then repeats the exposure independently between sessions.
A virtual environment is an immersive scene reproducing an anxiety-provoking situation, such as a supermarket or a fitting room. C2Care offers more than 250 environments grouped into a single application.
You need a virtual reality headset, access to the C2Care software platform and the support of a psychologist to define the exposure protocol adapted to the disorder.
Virtual reality can cause cybersickness in around 10% of people, resulting in temporary sensations. The exposure remains supervised by a psychologist.
Virtual reality is used in the treatment of anxiety disorders, phobias, addictions, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Cybersickness affects around 10% of people using a virtual reality headset. It manifests itself with sensations similar to motion sickness and usually disappears quickly.
Psychologists, psychiatrists and occupational therapists use virtual reality, both in private and in establishments (CHU, hospitals, clinics).
Exposure becomes progressive, controlled and reproducible from one session to the next. More than 1000 practitioners are already equipped with C2Care in nearly 50 countries.
Yes, all environments are grouped into a single application.
The technical service can be reached via live chat from the control platform. In the event of defective equipment, a diagnosis is made and replacement is carried out within 48 hours.
Patients suffering from anxiety disorders, phobias, addictions or eating disorders can benefit from virtual reality exposure therapy, with the guidance of a practitioner.
Cancellation is done by contacting the technical service via the control platform's live chat.
