Game on: a digital adventure aims to retrain the brain's response to body image
NCT ID NCT07732829
First seen Jul 29, 2026 · Last updated Jul 30, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This trial tests FlexED, a digital game-like intervention for young women aged 15–25 with eating disorders. Over seven 20-minute sessions on a mobile phone, users follow an avatar through a story and complete interactive exercises based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The goal is to help participants respond more flexibly to body-image triggers. Researchers will measure changes in eating disorder symptoms, heart rate, eye movements, and reaction times to body-related words and images before and after the intervention.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only — not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- a digital gamified intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- What this could lead to
- If effective, FlexED could offer an accessible, engaging early treatment option for eating disorders that helps young women respond more flexibly to body-image distress.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very small early-stage trial with only 6 participants, so results may not generalize. The intervention is digital and self-guided, so engagement and adherence could vary.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Duke University
Durham, North Carolina, 27705, United States
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