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Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging simulative technology that provides the individual with the feeling of “being inside” a synthetic environment generated by computer graphics. The sense of presence and emotional engagement offered by VR can be a powerful tool for personal change because it provides a high level of personal efficacy and self-reflectiveness. More, VR can be considered an embodied technology for its ability of modifying the experience of the body: using VR, subjects can experience digital bodies as if they were their own body. For these features, several VR applications have been developed to be used in the treatment of body image disturbances, and their effectiveness has been positively tested in case studies, as well as in non-controlled and controlled trials. The rationale behind many of these trials is the hypothesis that individuals with EDs may reflect a deficit in the processing and integration of multisensory bodily representations and signals that alters the way the body is “experienced” and “remembered”. In this view, VR as a synthetic egocentric experience, can be used in a sensory training to unlock the body memory (body image rescripting protocol) by increasing the contribution of new egocentric/internal somatosensory information directly related to the existing allocentric memory. The emerging field of multisensory bodily illusion may further improve the actual protocols.

Studies on body shame in eating and weight disorders.

L’Anoressia Nervosa

Personality traits can affect eating behaviors, the development of obesity as well as obesity treatment failure. We investigated the personality characteristics and their relation with disordered eating in 586 obese women consecutively seeking treatment at eight Italian medical centers (age, 47.7±9.8 years) and 185 age-matched, normal weight women without symptoms of eating disorders (Eating Attitude Test<20). The assessment included anthropometry, the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), the Binge Eating Scale (BES) and the Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ). Logistic regression analyses were carried out in different models with BES score≥27 and NEQ≥30 as dependent variables and TCI scores as independent factors. Personality traits of obese individuals included significantly lower self-directedness and cooperativeness on TCI. BES and NEQ scores were higher in obese women, and values above the defined cut-offs were present in 77 and 18 cases (14 with high BES), respectively. After controlling for age and BMI, high BES values were associated with high novelty seeking and harm avoidance and low self-directedness, the last two scales being also associated with high NEQ. We conclude that personality traits differ between obese patients seeking treatment and controls, and the presence of disordered eating is associated with specific personality characteristics