Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatments, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2010 Oct;13(5):521-31. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2009.0301. Epub 2010 Apr 3.
The aim of this article was to study the effect of virtual-reality exposure to situations that are emotionally significant for patients with eating disorders (ED) on the stability of body-image distortion and body-image dissatisfaction. A total of 85 ED patients and 108 non-ED students were randomly exposed to four experimental virtual environments: a kitchen with low-calorie food, a kitchen with high-calorie food, a restaurant with low-calorie food, and a restaurant with high-calorie food. In the interval between the presentation of each situation, body-image distortion and body-image dissatisfaction were assessed. Several 2 x 2 x 2 repeated measures analyses of variance (high-calorie vs. low-calorie food x presence vs. absence of people x ED group vs. control group) showed that ED participants had significantly higher levels of body-image distortion and body dissatisfaction after eating high-calorie food than after eating low-calorie food, while control participants reported a similar body image in all situations. The results suggest that body-image distortion and body-image dissatisfaction show both trait and state features. On the one hand, ED patients show a general predisposition to overestimate their body size and to feel more dissatisfied with their body image than controls. On the other hand, these body-image disturbances fluctuate when participants are exposed to virtual situations that are emotionally relevant for them.
本文旨在研究虚拟现实暴露于对饮食障碍（ED）患者具有情感意义的情境对身体意象扭曲和身体意象不满的稳定性的影响。共有 85 名 ED 患者和 108 名非 ED 学生被随机暴露于四个实验性虚拟现实环境中：低卡路里食物的厨房、高卡路里食物的厨房、低卡路里食物的餐厅和高卡路里食物的餐厅。在呈现每种情况之间，评估身体意象扭曲和身体意象不满。几项 2 x 2 x 2 重复测量方差分析（高热量与低热量食物 x 有人与无人 x ED 组与对照组）表明，ED 参与者在进食高热量食物后比进食低热量食物时，身体意象扭曲和身体不满程度明显更高，而对照组在所有情况下报告的身体意象相似。结果表明，身体意象扭曲和身体意象不满既具有特质特征，也具有状态特征。一方面，ED 患者普遍存在高估自己体型和对身体形象不满的倾向，比对照组更严重。另一方面，当参与者暴露于对他们具有情感意义的虚拟情境时，这些身体意象障碍会波动。
