Digital Technologies for Innovative Mental Health Rehabilitation

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness, characterized by the loss of the notion of reality, failing to distinguish it from the imaginary. It affects the patient in life’s major areas, such as work, interpersonal relationships, or self-care, and the usual treatment is performed with the help of anti-psychotic medication, which targets primarily the hallucinations, delirium, etc. Other symptoms, such as the decreased emotional expression or avolition, require a multidisciplinary approach, including psychopharmacology, cognitive training, and many forms of therapy. In this context, this paper addresses the use of digital technologies to design and develop innovative rehabilitation techniques, particularly focusing on mental health rehabilitation, and contributing for the promotion of well-being and health from a holistic perspective. In this context, serious games and virtual reality allows for creation of immersive environments that contribute to a more effective and lasting recovery, with improvements in terms of quality of life. The use of machine learning techniques will allow the real-time analysis of the data collected during the execution of the rehabilitation procedures, as well as enable their dynamic and automatic adaptation according to the profile and performance of the patients, by increasing or reducing the exercises’ difficulty. It relies on the acquisition of biometric and physiological signals, such as voice, heart rate, and game performance, to estimate the stress level, thus adapting the difficulty of the experience to the skills of the patient. The system described in this paper is currently in development, in collaboration with a health unit, and is an engineering effort that combines hardware and software to develop a rehabilitation tool for schizophrenic patients. A clinical trial is also planned for assessing the effectiveness of the system among negative symptoms in schizophrenia patients.

Virtual Reality Rehabilitation’s Impact on Negative Symptoms and Psychosocial Rehabilitation in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

“…Virtual games as an auxiliary tool for rehabilitation can be a very interesting path for the future to benefit people diagnosed on the schizophrenia spectrum [10].…”

“…In psychiatry in particular, traditional treatment tools have been limited mainly to psychotherapy and medication. Rehabilitation supported by digital technologies has thus emerged as a solution to support health professionals by providing high-intensity, repetitive, and task-specific exercises to improve the rehabilitation process [10]. VR has already been applied to the treatment of various pathological conditions.…”

VR Scenarios to Treat Mental Health

“…Several clinical studies have demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, and specific phobias. Actually, rehabilitation supported by digital technologies has thus emerged as a solution to support health professionals by providing high-intensity, repetitive, and task-specific exercises to improve the rehabilitation process [23].…”

Digital Health Technology to Support Health Care Professionals and Family Caregivers Caring for Patients With Cognitive Impairment: Scoping Review

“…According to the US Food and Drug Administration, digital health technologies “use computing platforms, connectivity, software, and sensors for health care and related uses” [ 10 ]. Digital health technology has been deemed valuable and efficient in supporting health care providers and family caregivers in different populations, such as children with special health care needs [ 11 ], patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation [ 12 ], and patients with Parkinson disease [ 13 ], as well as patients requiring cardiovascular care [ 14 ], pulmonary rehabilitation [ 15 , 16 ], mental health rehabilitation [ 17 ], and cognitive rehabilitation [ 18 ]. Digital health technology faces challenges at individual and system levels, such as lack of presence and in-person contact [ 19 ] as well as ethics and data governance [ 20 ].…”