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Online Imaginal Exposure Therapy for Eating Disorders Trial

NCT06818695 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 76

Last updated 2025-04-06

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if an imaginal exposure intervention first conducted by Levinson and colleagues (2020) can produce similar promising results in individuals with anorexia on the waiting list of an NHS eating disorder service. The main question it aims to answer is:

1. How effective is Imaginal Exposure Therapy in reducing eating disorder symptoms and increasing weight in patients with AN?

The secondary research questions are:
2. How effective is Imaginal Exposure Therapy in reducing anxiety and fear related outcomes around food and eating?
3. How effective is Imaginal Exposure Therapy in improving patients' general anxiety and depression symptoms?

Researchers will compare the results of individuals in the treatment condition to individual's in the control condition to explore the efficacy of the intervention on eating disorder and eating disorder fear symptomology, and body weight.

Participants in the intervention group will receive 4 sessions of online exposure therapy, and participants in the control group will remain on the waiting list with treatment as usual (primarily nurse monitoring).

Conditions

  • Anorexia Nervosa

Interventions

OTHER

Imaginal Exposure for Anorexia Nervosa

Imaginal exposure aims to use the power of imagining the fearful situation to heighten anxiety and by not engaging in imaginative restriction or other eating disorder behaviours, the individual, in theory, can habituate to the anxiety until it naturally subsides.

OTHER

Treatment as Usual (TAU)

TAU includes specialist nurse monitoring, occasional medical reviews, and dietetic support (depending on the individual's particular needs)

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • North East London Foundation Trust

    collaborator OTHER

  • University College, London

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Lucy Serpell · University College, London

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-04-30
Primary Completion
2026-04-30
Completion
2026-06-30

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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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 NCT06818695 on ClinicalTrials.gov