Children psychotherapy with mobile devices

Abstract

Computer Assisted Therapy is an applied and research field that has been rapidly evolving hand in hand with the advances of technology. In particular, the mass adoption of the internet and computers as tools to support several types of approaches has shown good results for a wide assortment of issues [1]. These technologies, primarily used to support therapists and clinicians while managing their records, accessing local or remote information [1][2], have more recently, and most importantly, been growingly used to serve patients as well, either independently or as a support for cooperation between patient and therapists. Amongst the existing examples, one can find simple registration (e.g., amount of cigarettes per day) diaries, short text-based tests or basic procedures and guidelines [3] or more advanced systems offering some support for personalization within the used tools [4] and data exchange between actors. However, traditionally, the majority of these tools requires some computer usage skills from both actors and is usually destined to adults or young adults. For teenagers and, most importantly, for children, who are also frequently in need of support and therapeutic aid, the number of existing tools is very low [5]. Requirements for applications directed toward children are significantly different from those that are oriented toward adults [6] and, in a vast majority of situations, adult oriented applications are not adequate to younger patients. This book chapter addresses the specific needs and requirements that technology must abide to when used in support of therapy for children and teenagers, focusing mainly on Cognitive Behavioral Approaches for the treatment of internalizing disorders like depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, and somatic or physical problems (7(.It provides an overview of existing approaches and systems and describes in detail two existing systems that aim at offering therapists, and their patients, tailored tools for the support of individual and group approaches for these disorders. © 2012 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.