Video Game Therapy for Emotional Regulation and Impulsivity Control in a Series of Treated Cases with Bulimia Nervosa

Abstract

Although standard psychological treatments have been successful in treating several core features in eating disorders (ED), other characteristics such as emotional regulation or impulsivity appear to be more resistant to change. There is a growing body of evidence to support the efficacy of cognitive remediation for cognitive and emotional difficulties in ED. Playmancer/ Islands is a video game (VG) designed to specifically treat mental disorders, characterized by problems in impulse control. The objective of the game is to increase selfcontrol over emotions, decision making and behaviours. The aim of this study is to describe the results from a consecutive series of nine bulimia nervosa patients who were treated with the VG in addition to cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). The outcomes included clinical and psychopathological questionnaires, and physiological measures were obtained during the VG. Emotional regulation improved, heart rate variability increased, and respiratory rate and impulsivity measures reduced after the treatment. These findings suggest that VG training may enhance treatment for ED.

A systematic review of cognitive remediation therapy for anorexia nervosa - development, current state and implications for future research and clinical practice

“…Two CRT studies were excluded as they were written in Polish [31] and French [32], and one additional CRT publication was omitted as it had been published as a meeting abstract rather than in an article format [33]. Nine studies were excluded as these did not focus specifically on CRT for AN [34–42], and six publications were excluded as these represented either books or book chapters [43–48] rather than peer reviewed papers. Three studies evaluating the combination of cognitive remediation therapy and emotional skills training (CREST) [49–51] were excluded from the review as the design of these studies did not allow for assessment of CRT specific contributions.…”

Explicit and Implicit Emotional Expression in Bulimia Nervosa in the Acute State and after Recovery

“…The criteria to be included as recovered patients were having a minimum of 12 (consecutive) weeks being abstinent from bingeing and purging (laxatives and/or vomiting). As described in previous studies [12], [13], the inclusion criteria was an age between 18 and 45 years. The exclusion criteria were: primary psychiatric or neurological disorders (e.g.…”

Facial expression to emotional stimuli in non-psychotic disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…However, within this phenotype there is individual and group variation in people's ability and tendency to produce facial expressions based on factors such as culture (Chentsova-Dutton et al, 2007;Jack et al, 2012), age (Chapell, 1997), gender (Chaplin and Aldao, 2013;Hess et al, 2000), and psychopathology (e.g. Bylsma et al, 2008;Fagundo et al, 2013;Kring and Moran, 2008;Rosenthal et al, 2008).…”