Virtual embodiment in fibromyalgia

Abstract

Chronic pain alters the experience of owning a body and leads to disturbances in bodily perception. We tested whether women with fibromyalgia (FM) are receptive to bodily illusions of owning a visible and progressively invisible body in immersive virtual reality (VR), and what modulates this experience. Twenty patients participated in two experimental sessions; each session included two conditions in a counterbalanced order. We found that patients with FM could indeed experience virtual embodiment. Sentiment analysis revealed significantly more positive reactions to the progressively invisible body, yet twice as many patients declared they preferred the illusion of a visible virtual body. A linear mixed model revealed that the strength of embodiment was positively associated with body perception disturbances and negatively associated with FM symptoms intensity. No effect of pain during the VR experience nor interoception awareness on embodiment was found. The results indicated that patients with FM are receptive to virtual bodily illusions and that the impact of the embodiment depends on affective reactions, the level of cognitive body distortions, and the intensity of symptoms. Importantly, there is a large variation among patients which should be considered in future VR-based interventions.

Virtual reality in functional neurological disorder: a theoretical framework and research agenda for use in the real world

“… 32 33 One study that employed a progressive body invisibility illusion found strength of embodiment was positively associated with body perception disturbances and negatively with symptom intensity. 34 In addition, VR mirror visual feedback therapy, which is used to create illusions normalising the distorted representation of the affected body part, has demonstrated potential effects in phantom pain 35 and complex regional pain syndrome, 36 in addition to its rehabilitative purposes in patients who had a stroke. 37 However, these studies have not included placebo control conditions and multiple lines of evidence challenge the presumed mechanistic basis of these effects.…”