Publication
Computer-based artifacts for psychotherapy
| Summary: | Psychological therapy, in particular Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, often used for depression and anxiety disorders treatment, is a common and widely used method among clinicians. However, currently trained psychotherapists are insufficient for the number of patients who suffer from these pathologies. Furthermore, this type of therapy relies on various artifacts for patient treatment and therapist diagnosis activities. Besides the time consumed, the costs relative to the therapy process can ascend to large amounts. Collaboration between patient and therapist is essential in order to guide patients to help themselves, replacing distorted cognitions with more adequate ones and more appropriate attitudes. By introducing new digital artifacts, which replace the paper ones, and by supporting the information flow between actors, both the cognitive effort and time waste can be reduced, improving the therapy process and the patients recovery. This dissertation reviews the state of the art concerning the use of technology to support psychological diagnosis and therapy. Within this context, a set of tools, designed to be used on hand-held devices, as well as on common desktop computers, which provide support for the whole process of psychotherapy, is presented. Each tool has its own objective. However, they all communicate and share information, allowing both patient and therapist to pursue their tasks at any place and time. An overview on the design and evaluation processes is done and future directions are defined. |
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| Main Authors: | Sá, Marco Abelha César de |
| Subject: | Psychotherapy Personal Digital Assistants Interaction Cooperation Teses de mestrado - 2005 |
| Year: | 2005 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Document type: | master thesis |
| Access type: | restricted access |
| Associated institution: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Language: | English |
| Origin: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Summary: | Psychological therapy, in particular Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, often used for depression and anxiety disorders treatment, is a common and widely used method among clinicians. However, currently trained psychotherapists are insufficient for the number of patients who suffer from these pathologies. Furthermore, this type of therapy relies on various artifacts for patient treatment and therapist diagnosis activities. Besides the time consumed, the costs relative to the therapy process can ascend to large amounts. Collaboration between patient and therapist is essential in order to guide patients to help themselves, replacing distorted cognitions with more adequate ones and more appropriate attitudes. By introducing new digital artifacts, which replace the paper ones, and by supporting the information flow between actors, both the cognitive effort and time waste can be reduced, improving the therapy process and the patients recovery. This dissertation reviews the state of the art concerning the use of technology to support psychological diagnosis and therapy. Within this context, a set of tools, designed to be used on hand-held devices, as well as on common desktop computers, which provide support for the whole process of psychotherapy, is presented. Each tool has its own objective. However, they all communicate and share information, allowing both patient and therapist to pursue their tasks at any place and time. An overview on the design and evaluation processes is done and future directions are defined. |
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