Virtual Reality Lab - Universitat de Barcelona

Body image disturbances and body anxiety are a major problem among young women, in addition to being directly related to eating disorders (ED). In recent years, these variables have been addressed experimentally through virtual reality (VR). Thanks to this technology, and through the application of multisensory stimulation, the body ownership illusion can be induced in virtual avatars, allowing working on the perceptions that patients have with respect to their own body. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of two multisensory stimulation procedures when modifying body image disturbances and body anxiety when avatars with different body mass indexes (BMI) were presented. 43 women without a recent diagnosis of eating disorders were recruited and divided into two groups, one with a visual-motor stimulation (VM) and another with visual-motor and visual-tactile stimulation (VM+VT), presenting three avatars: one based on their real body, one with a higher BMI and another with a lower BMI. Although the application of these two multisensory stimulation procedures has not generated different levels of body anxiety, they have influenced the degree of body image disturbances reported by the participants. These results give strength to the idea that the application of virtual reality environments allows generating changes in the perception of body size, modulating emotional responses in patients and raises its usefulness for diagnosis and treatment.