Virtual Reality Lab - Universitat de Barcelona

Eating disorders (ED) play a significant role in health care worldwide. Among specific types of eating disorders, the highest prevalence was found for binge eating disorders (BED), followed by bulimia nervosa (BN), and anorexia nervosa (AN) (Qian et al., 2013).

Eating disorder literature supports the use of cognitive behavioral therapy or interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescents and adolescent family counselling (Lock, 2015; Fairburn et al., 2015; Kass, Kolko, & Wilfley, 2013). Nonetheless, there are a number of patients who may not improve through therapy (Wilson, Grilo, & Vitousek, 2007).

The study of heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with ED provided clinically relevant knowledge of the quality and role of various physiological processes for heart rate regulation (Shaffer & Ginsberg, 2017). Is for these reasons that the interest in this measure has increased in the late years.

The main aim of the present study was to determine if the induction of the full body illusion (FBI) of a virtual body produced changes in body-related anxiety, body image disturbances and HRV of non-clinical participants. Participants owned two different virtual bodies (VBs): one with the same BMI as their own and another with an increment of 7 points in their BMI.