Welcome to the world of optical gaming, where your body is the conduit through which your mind can explore vast dreamscapes, blurring the lines between the surreal and the visceral, the psychedelic and the psychotic. OpTale is an immersive gaming experience that snares its users like a drug. It taps into the visual cortex through encoded contact-lenses to craft an enveloping, shared reality for its users; a world that is a programed, waking dream. You can choose to be a superhero, a spy or a sex god; you can be anything you want inside an OpTale. But how do you wake up when you can't tell you're dreaming? And how do you suppress the urge to play when the game decides you are the enemy? An exploration of addiction, sensory-overload and a bleak, not too distant future, OpTale is the story of one man's bizarre mission to crack the code of the 'Tales, to get behind the graphic interface and beyond.

MMVR offers solutions for problems in clinical care through the phenomenally expanding potential of computer technology. Computer-based tools promise to improve healthcare while reducing cost - a vital requirement in today's economic environment. This seventh annual MMVR focuses on the healthcare needs of women. Women every where demand more attention to breast cancer, cervical cancer, ageing-related conditions. Electronic tools provide the means to revolutionise diagnosis, treatment and education. The book demonstrates what new tools can improve the care of their female patients. As minimally invasive procedures are mainstreamed, advanced imaging and robotics tools become indispensable. The internet and other networks establish new venues for communication and research. Medical education, as well as clinical care, is enhanced by systems allowing instruction and professional interaction in ways never before possible and with efficiency never before achieved. Telemedicine networks now permit providers to meet patients needs where previously impossible. MMVR strengthens the link between healthcare providers and their patients. The volume contains selected papers authored by presenters at the conference. Areas of focus include Computer-Assisted Surgery, Data Fusion & Informatics, Diagnostic Tools, Education & Training, Mental Health, Modelling, Net Architecture, Robotics, Simulation, Telemedicine, Telepresence and Visualisation.

Most research on the psychological impact of computers and the Internet has focused on the negative side of technology – i.e. how the use (abuse) of interactive systems and videogames can negatively affect mental health and behavior. On the other hand, less attention has been devoted to understanding how emerging technologies can promote optimal functioning at individual, group, and community levels. Integrating Technology in Positive Psychology Practice explores the various roles that technology can play in the development of psychological interventions aimed at helping people thrive. Exploring the ways in which ICT can be utilized to foster positive emotions, promote engagement in empowering activities, and support connectedness between individuals, groups, and communities, this timely publication is designed for use by psychologists, IT developers, researchers, and graduate students.

Digital health is the convergence of digital technologies with health to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and make healthcare more personalized and precise. These technologies generally focus on the development of interconnected health systems to improve the use of computational technologies, smart devices, computational analysis techniques, and communication media to help healthcare professionals and their patients manage illnesses and health risks, as well as promote health and well-being. Digital tools play a central role in the most promising future healthcare innovations and create tremendous opportunities for a more integrated and value-based system along with a stronger focus on patient outcomes, and as such, having access to the latest research findings and progressions is of paramount importance. Digital Therapies in Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health introduces the latest digital innovations in the mental health field and points out new ways it can be used in patient care while also delving into some of the limits of its application. It presents a comprehensive state-of-the-art approach to digital mental health technologies and practices within the broad confines of psychosocial and mental health practices and also provides a canvas to discuss emerging digital mental health solutions, propelled by the ubiquitous availability of personalized devices and affordable wearable sensors and innovative technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, mobile apps, robots, and intelligent platforms. It is ideal for medical professors and students, researchers, practitioners of healthcare companies, managers, and other professionals where digital health technologies can be used.

This volume presents the latest research in Virtual Reality (VR), as it is being applied in psychotherapy, rehabilitation, and the analysis of behaviour for neurological assessment. This book will be of value to anyone already in the field and to those who are interested in the development of VR systems for therapeutic purposes. The contents include: · The latest literature reviews on VR in psychotherapy, psychological wellbeing, and rehabilitation · VR and cognitive behavior therapy · Increasing presence in VR for effective exposure therapy and treatment of anxiety disorders · VR military training for managing combat stress and preventing post traumatic stress · VR, mixed reality systems, and games for stroke rehabilitation · VR systems for improving vision in children with amblyopia · Therapeutic play in virtual environments · Healing potential of online virtual worlds such as Second Life · Neuropsychological assessment using virtual environments · Detailed accounts on how VR systems are designed, implemented, and best evaluated · Discussions of limitations, problems, and ethical concerns using VR in mental and physical therapy

Sexual education is a worldwide concern that intersects with various attitudes, values, and cultural norms. It is an area of life that has for many years been kept private, but now there is recognition that there is a need to support people, especially young people in modern societies. The way sexual education is taught and applied within institutions shapes the way we understand and approach human sexuality. Various societies have chosen various means to provide sexual education both at school and to the wider society. There is still much more development and support needed, however. We can begin to identify strategies for overcoming challenges in sex education, promoting healthier attitudes, and empowering individuals to make informed decisions about their own bodies and relationships. This book is organized into three sections. The first section focuses on issues in sexual education, such as sexual harassment, sexuality and relationship education and advocacy by people with disabilities, future challenges, and sex differences in physical attractiveness. The second section focuses on the means of sexual health education interventions, including the use of technology. The last section includes a chapter on sex education and the invisibility of intersex people in the curriculum.

While many fields such as e-learning, business, and marketing have taken advantage of the potential of gamification, the healthcare domain has just started to exploit this emerging trend, still in an ad-hoc fashion. Despite the huge potential of applying gamification on several topics of healthcare, there are scarce theoretical studies regarding methodologies, techniques, specifications, and frameworks. These applications must be examined further as they can be used to solve major healthcare-related challenges such as care plan maintenance, medication adherence, phobias treatment, or patient education. Handbook of Research on Solving Modern Healthcare Challenges With Gamification aims to share new approaches and methodologies to build e-health solutions using gamification and identifies new trends on this topic from pedagogical strategies to technological approaches. This book serves as a collection of knowledge that builds the theoretical foundations that can be helpful in creating sustainable e-health solutions in the future. While covering topics such as augmented and virtual reality, ethical issues in gamification, e-learning, telehealth services, and digital applications, this book is essential for research scholars, healthcare/computer science teachers and students pursuing healthcare/computer science-related subjects, enterprise developers, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the latest developments and research solving healthcare challenges with modern e-health solutions using gamification.

In the half-decade since publication of the first edition, there have been significant changes in society brought about by the exploding rise of technology in everyday lives that also have an impact on our mental health. The most important of these has been the shift in the way human interaction itself is conducted, especially with electronic text-based exchanges. This expanded second edition is an extensive body of work. It contains 39 chapters on different aspects of technological innovation in mental health care from 54 expert contributors from all over the globe, appropriate for a subject that holds such promise for a worldwide clientele and that applies to professionals in every country. The book is now presented in two clear sections, the first addressing the technologies as they apply to being used within counseling and psychotherapy itself, and the second section applying to training and supervision. Each chapter offers an introduction to the technology and discussion of its application to the therapeutic intervention being discussed, in each case brought to life through vivid case material that shows its use in practice. Chapters also contain an examination of the ethical implications and cautions of the possibilities these technologies offer, now and in the future. While the question once was, should technology be used in the delivery of mental health services, the question now is how to best use technology, with whom, and when. Whether one has been a therapist for a long time, is a student, or is simply new to the field, this text will serve as an important and integral tool for better understanding the psychological struggles of one’s clients and the impact that technology will have on one’s practice. Psychotherapists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, nurses, and, in fact, every professional in the field of mental health care can make use of the exciting opportunities technology presents.

The goal of this book is to bring together ideas from several different disciplines in order to examine the focus and aims that drive rehabilitation intervention and technology development. Specifically, the chapters in this book address the questions of what research is currently taking place to further develop rehabilitation, applied technology and how we have been able to modify and measure responses in both healthy and clinical populations using these technologies. The following chapters are dedicated toward addressing these issues: 1) Does Training with Technology Add to Functional Gains?; 2) Are there Rules that Govern Recovery of Function?; 3) Using the Body’s Own Signals to Augment Therapeutic Gains; 4) Technology Incorporates Cognition and Action; 5) Technology Enhances the Impact of Rehabilitation Programs; 6) Summary.

This book provides a comprehensive and critical review of the recent literature in selected topics in clinical neuropsychology. The chapters, written by authors with a history of scholarship and expertise, will review recent articles applicable to clinical neuropsychology and related disciplines, having sufficient theoretical importance to influence the direction of practice and future investigations.