Dr Leandro Loriga was interviewed by The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper, in an in-depth feature examining new research on Body Integrity Dysphoria (BID) and the use of virtual reality to better understand disturbances of bodily self-perception.
In the article, Dr Loriga discusses BID as a profoundly distressing condition marked by a deep sense of estrangement from one’s own body. He highlights the ethical and psychological risks faced by people living with BID, including periods of acute dysphoria, social isolation, and elevated suicide risk when adequate support is lacking.
The feature explores a recent study led by researchers at ETH Zurich, in which participants with BID used immersive virtual reality to experience a body matching their internal self-image. Dr Loriga comments on the potential of such technologies to offer temporary relief, while also stressing the ethical limits and unresolved questions surrounding long-term therapeutic use.
The article situates BID within broader debates on body representation, selfhood, and the brain’s construction of bodily identity—issues that lie at the intersection of medical anthropology, bioethics, and neuroscience.