Resumen
Body image has a long and well-known association with eating and weight-related problems. One index of the importance of body-image disturbance involves its relevance to agreed-on clinical disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV contains a body-image criterion that is required for the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. It has also been suggested that, when there is psychological comorbidity with obesity, it may be due to problematic body experience issues. Two direct and specific approaches for the treatment of a disturbed body image in eating disorders can be distinguished as: a cognitive/behavioral approach aimed at influencing patients' feelings of dissatisfaction with different parts of their bodies by means of individual interviews, relaxation, and imaginal techniques; and a visual/motorial approach that makes use of video recordings of particular gestures and movements with the aim of influencing the level of bodily awareness. Virtual reality lacks side effects and simulation sickness in such samples, thus confirming the possibility of using the application for therapeutic purposes.