Virtual reality vs. virtual body: The use of virtual environments in the treatment of body experience disturbances

The disturbances of body image associated with the eating disorders can be considered as a complex judgement bias strictly linked to attentional and memory biases for body related information. This biased information processing occurs automatically, outside the person's awareness, making these disturbances difficult to treat. Two different therapeutical approaches are actually used: a visual/motorial therapy with the aim of influencing the level of bodily awareness and a cognitive/behavioural therapy to influence patients' feelings of dissatisfaction. This paper describes a virtual environment that integrate these two approaches within a virtual experience. This choice would not only make it possible to intervene simultaneously on all of the forms of bodily representations, but also to use the psycho-physiological effects provoked on the body by the virtual experience for therapeutic purposes. The paper also present a study on a preliminary sample (48 normal subjects) to test the efficacy of the approach.