Body Image in Eating Disorders: The Influence of Exposure to Virtual-Reality Environments

Gutiérrez-Maldonado, José; Ferrer-García, Marta; Caqueo-Urízar, Alejandra; Moreno, Elena

doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0301

Cited by 45 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 91 publications

(109 reference statements)

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“…For example, Gutiérrez-Maldonado and co-workers (Ferrer-García et al, 2009;Gutiérrez-Maldonado et al, 2006;Gutiérrez-Maldonado et al, 2010) conducted several studies in which ED patients and healthy controls were exposed to VR environments that simulated food-related situations (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), the aim being to assess changes in mood, anxiety level, body image dissatisfaction and body image distortion depending on the kind of food and on the presence or absence of other people (private versus social situation) in the exposure context. For example, Gutiérrez-Maldonado and co-workers (Ferrer-García et al, 2009;Gutiérrez-Maldonado et al, 2006;Gutiérrez-Maldonado et al, 2010) conducted several studies in which ED patients and healthy controls were exposed to VR environments that simulated food-related situations (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), the aim being to assess changes in mood, anxiety level, body image dissatisfaction and body image distortion depending on the kind of food and on the presence or absence of other people (private versus social situation) in the exposure context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Craving for Food in Virtual Reality Scenarios in Non‐Clinical Sample: Analysis of its Relationship with Body Mass Index and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Ferrer-García

Gutiérrez‐Maldonado

Treasure

et al. 2015

Euro Eating Disorders Rev

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Virtual reality (VR) technology has been successfully used to study the influence of specific and contextual food-related cues on emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses in patients with eating disorders (ED) and healthy controls. Following this research line, the present study assesses the effect on reported food craving of the type of food (low calorie versus high calorie) and the presence or absence of other people (private versus social context) in VR environments. Relationships between craving and body mass index (BMI) and ED symptoms are also explored. Eighty-seven female students were exposed to four VR scenarios presented in random order: a low-calorie kitchen, a high-calorie kitchen, a low-calorie restaurant and a high-calorie restaurant. After 2 minutes of exposure to each virtual scenario, food craving was assessed. Repeated measures analyses of covariance were conducted to assess changes in food craving following exposure to the different VR environments. Time elapsed since the last meal was introduced as a covariate to control for responses produced by food deprivation. Correlation and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were also conducted to assess the relationship between reported food craving and BMI and ED symptoms. Participants experienced higher levels of food craving after exposure to high-calorie foods (in both the kitchen and restaurant environments) than after exposure to low-calorie foods. Being alone in the kitchen or with friends in the restaurant had no effect on reported craving. Overall, neither BMI nor ED symptoms were related with reported food craving; only in the restaurant with low-calorie food was a significant negative correlation found between BMI and food craving. The results suggest that cue exposure in virtual environments is an effective procedure for inducing food craving in healthy controls and may be useful as a research and therapeutic tool in clinical populations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Craving for Food in Virtual Reality Scenarios in Non‐Clinical Sample: Analysis of its Relationship with Body Mass Index and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Ferrer-García

Gutiérrez‐Maldonado

Treasure

et al. 2015

Euro Eating Disorders Rev

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“…VR has been used to assess and treat a wide variety of medical, surgical, psychiatric, and neurocognitive conditions including pain [1,2,4,9,13,18], addiction [20][21][22][23][24][25], anxiety disorders [3,6,7,15,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], schizophrenia [10,11,[36][37][38][39][40], eating disorders [1,[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48], stroke rehabilitation [5,16,[48][49][50][51], vestibular disorders [52], and movement disorders [53]<...>…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recommendations for Methodology of Virtual Reality Clinical Trials in Health Care by an International Working Group: Iterative Study (Preprint)

Birckhead¹,

Khalil²,

Liu³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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“…Feeling self-conscious about appearance due to low body esteem may make a person more likely to experience shame in stressful and socio-evaluative situations. Indeed, low body esteem has been linked to body shame and rumination (Etu & Gray, 2010; Grabe et al, 2007), both in the context of eating disorders (Andrews, 1997; Frank, 1991; Gutiérrez-Maldonado et al, 2010; Sanftner et al, 1995), as well as in non-clinical populations (Bedford & Johnson, 2006; Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Noll & Fredrickson, 1998; Tangney, 1995). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of shame and body esteem in cortisol stress responses

2015

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Studies assessing the role of shame in HPA axis reactivity report mixed findings. Discrepancies may be due to methodological difficulties and inter-individual differences in the propensity to experience shame in a stressful situation. Hence, the current study combined self-report of shame and facial coding of shame expressions and assessed the role of body esteem as a moderator of the shame–stress link. For this, 44 healthy students (24F, age 20.5 ± 2.1 years) were exposed to an acute psychosocial stress paradigm (Trier Social Stress Test: TSST). Salivary cortisol levels were measured throughout the protocol. Trait shame was measured before the stress test, and state shame immediately afterwards. Video recordings of the TSST were coded to determine emotion expressions. State shame was neither associated with cortisol stress responses nor with body esteem (self-report: all ps ≥ .24; expression: all ps ≥ .31). In contrast, higher trait shame was associated with both negative body esteem (p = .049) and stronger cortisol stress responses (p = .013). Lastly, having lower body esteem predicted stronger cortisol stress responses (p = .022); however, it did not significantly moderate the association between shame indices and cortisol stress responses (all ps ≥ .94). These findings suggest that body esteem and trait shame independently contribute to strength of cortisol stress responses. Thus, in addition to trait shame, body esteem emerged as an important predictor of cortisol stress responses and as such, a potential contributor to stress-related negative health outcomes.

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Body Image in Eating Disorders: The Influence of Exposure to Virtual-Reality Environments

Cited by 45 publications

References 91 publications

Craving for Food in Virtual Reality Scenarios in Non‐Clinical Sample: Analysis of its Relationship with Body Mass Index and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Craving for Food in Virtual Reality Scenarios in Non‐Clinical Sample: Analysis of its Relationship with Body Mass Index and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Recommendations for Methodology of Virtual Reality Clinical Trials in Health Care by an International Working Group: Iterative Study (Preprint)

Role of shame and body esteem in cortisol stress responses

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