A Puzzle Piece to Recovery? Development of a VR Escape Game as a Complementary Tool for Anorexia Nervosa Treatment

Abstract

Despite decades of research on Anorexia Nervosa (AN), the underlying psychological mechanisms remain insufficiently understood, and existing therapeutic approaches often show limited effectiveness (Wollburg et al., 2013). Preliminary expert consultations indicate a demand for playful therapeutic approaches that could serve as an effective and motivating complement to conventional treatment methods. Existing Virtual Reality (VR) therapy approaches primarily focus on body image disturbances and food stimuli (Turbyne et al., 2021; Magrini et al., 2022; Behrens et al., 2023). Approaches for reducing movement urges and other therapeutic dimensions have been less explored (Paslakis et al., 2017; Halbeisen et al., 2025).

Therefore, the aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate to what extent a playful VR application, addressing symptomatology of AN that has been insufficiently targeted so far, can engage with the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of the disorder. The setting of the application will be inspired by existing escape and puzzle game concepts with the setting serving as a metaphor for “escaping” AN. For this purpose, an initial requirement analysis will be conducted to identify the specific needs, symptoms, and therapeutic approaches through literature research and consultations with experts, and possibly patients with AN and their families. Based on this analysis, a concept for an application scenario will be developed, implemented, and evaluated through a user test.