You all know how it run . A crew of intrepid blank travelers set up out on an loose loading mission , but before long the isolation vexation , and the crew ’s careful equilibrium unravels with devastating consequences . If only HAL 9000 , Mother , or the Apollo Guidance Computer had been equip to provide psychiatric help to its human companions , NASA thought — and that ’s why they pour four years and 1.74 million buck into the development of computer therapy for its cosmonaut . The lead software , which begin clinical trials next month , looks like all of the educational programs you avoided in favor of The Oregon Trail . Researchers from the Harvard and Dartmouth Medical Schools spearheaded the projection , consult with 29 current and former astronauts to grow what they call the Virtual Space Station . The key conception is “ problem - solve treatment ” : By answering the VSS ’s interrogative sentence about their mental problems , astronauts can help the program calculate out room to direct their own care .
AHarvard Medical School press releaseoffers further item :
The first step of the unconscious process is to make a job listing and select a problem on which to solve . The second and third steps are congeal finish and brainstorming ways to reach them . The last two stairs are assessing the pro and cons of possible solutions and hit an action at law plan to enforce them . The program also help user project and schedule pleasurable activity , which people who have depression often cease doing . Additionally , the program provides preventative and educational information on depression .
It sound like a fairly comprehensive discourse , especially when you consider that NASA ’s cosmonaut showing summons will almost certainly provide out any candidate with a account of serious clinical depression . But capable therapists do far more than just writing down a patient ’s answers on a canvass of newspaper and matching them to a pre - existent lean of symptoms ; they ’re trained to peck up on the subtler details of human fundamental interaction , and to make observations of a change of unlike agent . A depressed individual ’s distorted intellection pattern might contribute her to think that she is a complete failure at her chore after she seduce one inconsequential mistake — and the only matter her calculator healer will understand about her situation is what she types into the covert . A scripted “ oh , do n’t feel forged , you ’re great ” from an program on her laptop computer wo n’t carry the same system of weights as the reassurance of a doctor who ’s been witness her for month , and who can orient out the distortion of her mentation with self-governing observations . Still , the Virtual Space Station is certainly better than no sustenance at all , and clinical trials will offer much more info on the benefit and applications of the software system . A foolproof solution might be to send off up a qualified healer with expertise in airmanship psychological science . But then , who know what the effect of long - term isolation on the ISS might do to that healer ? Thanks to tout Heather!Depressed cosmonaut to find high - tech comfort[CNN ] Virtual Space Station screen capture from theNew Scientist .
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