IMPRESS-U Call Partner Search Tool

General Information

• Project title: Virtual reality as a tool for personalized treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms
• Type: Project looking for partner
• Organisation: Lodz University of Technology
• Country: Poland (PL)

Research area

• NSF calls:
  • EAGER
  • International Supplements
• Keywords:

  virtual reality stress PTSD therapy in VR

• Brief description of your expertise / expertise you are looking for:

  psychology, cognitive science, or virtual reality

• Brief description of your project / the project you would like to join:

  Our project, which we are preparing to submit in this call, is already off to a strong start. Four universities from Ukraine and one from Estonia are currently in the consortium. We are actively seeking a potential partner from the US whose unique expertise in psychology, cognitive science, or VR could significantly enhance our collaboration. The title of the project is: Virtual reality as a tool for personalized treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Preliminary research: https://www.computer.org/csdl/journal/ta/5555/01/10387778/1TAP85viKxa Project objective: The project aims to apply virtual reality to PTSD and anxiety therapy to improve its short- and long-term outcomes by facilitating memory reconsolidation and supporting patients in acquiring more adaptive strategies to overcome mental health-related issues. Implementation: The VR system will be used in-between therapy sessions to address the most common symptoms of depression, and it will implement Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing models. Such an approach will decrease the duration and increase the effectiveness of psychotherapy. The designed VR system will create an immersive multisensory environment that can be adjusted according to individual patient requirements. The system will continuously monitor patients’ activities. To measure the project\'s success rate, a randomized clinical trial will be conducted on at least 60 ambulatory patients divided into two groups: the experimental group (which will use VR tool and typical therapy) and the control group (which will be treated with typical therapy only). Effects will be measured by reducing symptoms, verified after 6 and 12 weeks of treatment with the follow-up after 6 months after therapy completion. A selected group of patients will go through resting-state fMRI of the brain before and after the completion of treatment. Comparison of results will be the objective measure of the therapeutic effect of implemented intervention supported by VR. Project outputs: Foreseen project outputs are patient-oriented methods incorporating VR in the therapy of depression and anxiety as well as statistically verified patients’ health status monitoring methods. The project is addressed to patients and mental health professionals (psychologists, psychotherapists, counselors, and psychiatrists), and institutions.

Dorota Kaminska

• Organisation: Lodz University of Technology
• Position: professor
• E-mail: dorota.kaminska@p.lodz.pl
• Phone: +48696411146
• Web: www.researchgate.net/profile/Dorota-Kaminska