Look at food and lose your fear
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Look at food and lose your fear - The evaluation of a computerized attention training (CAT) for Anorexia Nervosa patients
IRAS ID
160749
Contact name
Jessica Werthmann
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a severe mental disorder characterized by fear of food and avoidance of eating. AN is life-threatening due to self-starvation which makes it even more worrisome that there is no successful therapy for adults. One important psychological mechanism that contributes to restrictive eating is that AN patients frequently avoid looking at food. The proposed study introduces a novel perspective on treatment options by focussing on changing implicit (that is automatic and unconscious) processes underlying food-related fears and avoidance. We will experimentally modify attention towards food using an innovative computerized attention training program (CAT).
The aim of this experimental study twofold: We want to test if the computerized attention training (CAT) paradigm can successfully alter attention for food cues (aim 1) and we furthermore want to determine the clinical effects of following this training on food-related fears, food avoidance and AN symptomatology (aim 2).
Overall, 50 AN patients will be randomized to an active attention training condition or a control training condition. We hypothesize that the active attention training will change attentional avoidance of food (aim 1), and transfer to changes in psychological, physiological, behavioural and clinical indicators of food-related fears and avoidance (aim 2).The study will be conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College in London (UK) whose eating disorders unit provides excellent facilities and expertise needed for this project. The knowledge derived from this study will set the stage for research on implicit (thus automatic) instead of explicit (that is deliberate and controlled decision) processes contributing to food-related fears and avoidance, an understudied core-feature of AN, and can inform on easily-implemented treatment options.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0060
Date of REC Opinion
2 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion