19_04_17_EDU
Mobile and virtual reality, a way to rethink clinical psychology
On April 10, Cristina Botella, Professor of Psychology and Emeritus Professor of Psychopathology at the University Jaume I, gave a lecture at the University of Navarra, lecture , in which she stressed the importance of technology to address mental health problems.
Internet has become the tool to promote health. At a time when society is suffering from a growth in mental health disorders, Botella stated that "⅓ of the European health budget is allocated to treatment of this subject and suicide is the leading cause of death in young people". Based on these statements, she decided to argue and demonstrate the importance of new technologies in the prevention and treatment of health. In addition to the permanent training of professionals and the multiple employment opportunities that they can have in the field of clinical psychology.
The expert then reflected on the use of new technologies, cell phones, the Internet and virtual reality, which are present in most of society, as a preventive measure in mental health. Through them, it is possible to provide the population with emotional resources in a generalized way. "In the same way that public health provides children with vitamins to help them grow, they are not trained in psychological strengths," exclaimed Botella. For that, clinical psychology must rely on the mass dissemination, through technology, of psychological strengths and find a smoother integration of treatments in society. Anticipating possible problems, reaching a wider issue of people, protecting the patient's data and reducing space and costs.
It is necessary to help at an affordable cost for society," Bottle explained, "to do this we must forget about the traditional clinical internship as a fundamental element". This is not to forget about one-to-one therapy altogether, but as another possibility for tackling the chronic problem that society suffers from. Cell phones and virtual reality point to a new way of rethinking clinical psychology and betting on a state of well-being of the patient. The latter has developed great advances in the training of professionals and therapies with protocolized and manualized treatment of agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, etc.
At final, technology brings to the development of psychology more acceptable treatments, "but equally effective," said Botella. Also, treatments tailored to the patient's problems and at his or her pace at a more affordable cost, he concluded.
This session, which was attended by students from the Degree in Psychology and professors from the School of Education and Psychology was part of the professional seminars organized by the Master's Degree in General Health Psychology as part of its training pathway .