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Exposure Therapy Study In Adults With Eating Disorders

NCT06171711 · Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 30

Last updated 2026-05-08

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The current proposal will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of Exposure Therapy for anorexia nervosa (AN) spectrum disorders (Exp-AN), an innovative treatment rooted in principles of inhibitory learning. Exp-AN will target anxiety about both eating and weight gain by combining in vivo (i.e., in real life) and imaginal (i.e., mental) exposure in novel ways (e.g., eating a feared food while listening to a recording describing fears about weight gain).

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Exposure Therapy

The proposed study will explore whether Exp-AN works via inhibitory learning (i.e., decreasing anxious beliefs and increasing anxiety tolerance) and/or between-session habituation (i.e., decreasing anxiety levels across therapy sessions), and the importance of targeting anxiety about eating versus weight gain. Results will provide information about the degree to which all three mechanisms of action (i.e., changes in anxiety ratings, anxious beliefs, and tolerance of anxiety) predict improved AN symptomatology across both treatments. Research that discovers whether specific treatments (e.g., Exp-AN) work in the way the investigators think they do (e.g., by increasing tolerance of anxiety), and whether modifying intervention targets (e.g., tolerance of anxiety) helps people get better (e.g., reduced AN symptomatology), will ultimately lead to more personalized, mechanism-based, and effective treatments (Insel 2014; Insel et al., 2010).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Jamal Essayli · Penn State University

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
17 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-05-02
Primary Completion
2026-09-30
Completion
2026-09-30

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06171711 on ClinicalTrials.gov