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Virtual reality is a new technology that can be used to model an environment with which an individual can interact using all five senses. It is notably used in psychiatry for anxiety disorders and addictions, and its use in eating disorders has been growing in recent years. Indeed, virtual reality offers interesting advantages, such as its ability to personalize any environment, which is also more secure and controllable. Recent studies show promising results in the understanding, evaluation, and therapeutic management of eating disorders. The use of avatars in anorexia nervosa allows for a correct assessment of the perceptual (body image distortion) and cognitive-affective (body dissatisfaction) components of the body image disorder in a similar way to conventional methods, but also for a better understanding of them. Moreover, avatars allow the development of innovative therapeutic protocols and are thus used in the context of exposure therapy. The new body swapping protocol, based on a multisensory illusion, offers particularly promising results in the reduction of body image disorder. For bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, virtual reality has made it possible to better characterize the triggering mechanisms of binge eating episodes through studies that have observed different responses to food-related environments and stimuli. At the therapeutic level, virtual reality cue exposure therapy has the most empirical support. Its aim is to reduce or eliminate the anxiety and craving felt by a patient in response to exposure to food or other food-related cues by preventing the patient from consuming food, and results show clear reductions in anxiety, craving and binge eating episodes. While all these results seem to indicate a bright future for virtual reality in eating disorders, further studies are needed to validate the positive impact of its use, but also its limitations. Notably, cyber sickness could alter the smooth running of virtual reality therapy sessions by causing nausea and disorientation. Moreover, it is important to verify that a therapeutic protocol does not lose its effectiveness when it is transposed into virtual reality. However, virtual reality seems to be a therapeutic tool that is better accepted by patients, and even better by adolescents, which is very interesting for eating disorders since adolescents are the most affected. Virtual reality could therefore help motivate patients to pursue treatment and reduce the dropout rate while offering good therapeutic results. Thus, studies conducted in recent years have shown that virtual reality is a promising tool in the understanding, assessment and treatment of eating disorders, and future research should confirm this, particularly in the adolescent population., (Copyright © 2021 L'Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Anorexia and bulimia are part of eating disorders which are defined in the diagnostic and statistical manual as mental health disorders. Screening tools exist and there are different types of treatment which are generally multi-disciplinary. The nurse, as well as the family or immediate circle, are essential players in the care. Specialist units and the development of research are improving the understanding, treatment and support of these complex disorders., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

As psychiatric disorders attacking the body, anorexia and bulimia may have severe psychological, physical and social consequences, often requiring a long-standing interdisciplinary, coordinated and individualized approach. Recently the canton of Vaud has initiated and developed an interinstitutional structure--between the University Hospital (CHUV) and the hospitals of the Northern region of the canton (eHnv)--for the care of patients suffering from eating disorders. This structure, allowing the above mentioned approach for the treatment of eating disorders, consists of an outpatient facility located in the CHUV and an inpatient unit in the hospital of Saint Loup of the eHnv. Within this structure, the general practitioner plays a crucial role in the prevention of the chronification of these disorders by means of their early detection and management.

Introduction: Eating disorders are characterized by severe disturbance in eating behavior. A disturbance in perception of body shape and weight is an essential feature of both anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Eating disorder patients demonstrate the same characteristic attitude about body image, such as fear of fatness or pursuit of thinness., Background: Moreover, perturbed body image is a common diagnostic category of anorexia and bulimia (DSM-IV-TR, CIM-10). Cooper et al. [Int J Eat Disord 6 (1987) 485-94] developed a one-dimensional, 34 items questionnaire in order to measure the worries about weight and shape of the body, called the "Body Shape Questionnaire" (BSQ). Its concurrent validity has been shown using the corporal dissatisfaction subscale of the eating disorders inventory (EDI) [Int J Eat Disord 2 (1983) 15-34], the drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction and the Eating Attitude Test (EAT) [Psychol Med 9 (1979) 273-79]. The total score of the BSQ ranges from 34 to 204. Lower scores indicate lower concerns about body shape. The BSQ provides a means of exploring the role of extreme obsession about the body's appearance in the development, pursuit and treatment of eating disorders. From this point of view, the BSQ is a tool widely used in research on the eating disorders. Recently, It has been validated in a French non-clinical population [Encephale 31 (2005) 161-73]. However, the validity of the BSQ has not been reported in patients with eating disorders in France. This was addressed in the present study., Objectives: The first aim of this study was to assess perturbed body image with the French version of the BSQ in eating disorder patients. The second aim was to assess the sensitivity to change., Method: The sample was composed of patients hospitalized for eating disorders (DSM-IV-TR). During their hospitalization, they were submitted to this questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of their care. The BSQ was compared with commonly used heteroquestionnaires such as the body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-2), the Eating Attitude Test (EAT) and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI). Sensitivity to change was assessed by comparing total score at inclusion and at the end of hospitalization. Statistical analyses included Pearson's correlation coefficients, analysis of variance and t test. As Body Mass Index (BMI) can interfere with the BSQ score, it was included as confounding variables in the model in all analyses., Results: Forty-five patients were included in the study. There were 21 patients with restricting subtype of AN, 17 patients with purging subtype of AN and seven BN. The mean age was 27.2+/-6.8 years, the mean length of hospital stay was 3.7+/-1.4 months, and the mean duration of the disorders was 10.7+/-6.3 years. The global BSQ score was high in the three groups of patients: 131.6+/-11.2. There was no significant difference between groups. There was no influence of the BMI on the BSQ scores. Correlation coefficient was significant for all scales with the BSQ except with the CGI. The higher correlation (r) was 0.58 with the drive for thinness subscale of the EDI-2. The change in scores between Day 0 and the end of hospitalization was significant (p<0.0001)., Conclusion: The French version of the BSQ thus appears to be valid and accurate and should permit the study of perturbed body image in French eating disorder patients. However, sensitivity to change remains to be confirmed to evaluate response to treatment. Studies measuring this variable at different stages of the illness and recovery should be conducted.

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in the adolescence require premature and continuous cares, over several years. To associate the parents to the care is indispensable. The practitioner has to give appointment to both parents and the patient, and in certain cases to propose a family therapy. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa require an important coordination between physicians and psychiatrists. An inpatient treatment can be necessary but it is very rare.

The importance of the acute and chronic impact of eating disorders in adults, from both a somatic and psychological point of view, requires the means used to be commensurate with the potential severity of these disorders. Moreover, the reluctance--or even the opposition--of patients to the treatment increases the difficulty in the management of these already complex disorders. In any event, besides the patient's active collaboration during the treatment, which should be reached gradually, the therapeutic strategy to be adopted should be multimodal and integrated. In addition to the primary care physician, a great number of health professionals can be involved, each in their specialty, so as to treat all the aspects of the disorders. It should be noted that hospitalization, either scheduled or decided in emergency, can be considered at any point in the continuum of care, and is often a turning point in the management of these disorders. Finally, whichever the individualized combination of care provided in the treatment of eating disorders, the primary care physician--dietitian/nutritionist--psychiatrist triad constitutes an essential, minimal therapeutic basis.

Eating disorders long-term evolution is good in 50% of cases, middle in 25% (recovery from eating disorders, but still psychological suffering) and bad in 25% of cases, with chronic eating disorders, anxious or depressive comorbid disorder, and bad consequences in social patients' life. Anorexia nervosa has a considerably worse long-term outcome than bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorders. Never the less, purging bulimia nervosa is often associated with other impulsive symptoms, such as addictions and suicide attempts. Chronic undernutrition leads to main long-term medical complications of eating disorders: linear growth in adolescents with anorexia nervosa, infertility, and osteoporosis. These complications need a specific medical follow up, at least once a year, added to the psychiatric and psychotherapist follow-up.

Patients with eating disorders often require long and multidisciplinary therapeutic care of various types. The cornerstone of this care is still the care contract. Due to its preparation and development, it allows to offset the two extreme situations, which are the denial of massive problems and the need for immediate care, and to fully invest in the therapeutic project. Emergency care is, nevertheless, sometimes necessary in response to a severe physical or psychological situation, or in case of a family crisis. When a life is at risk, emergency hospitalization is a must. In this way, hospitalization requested by a third party must remain an exception.