VEPSY is a European-Union funded research project for Telemedicine and Portable Virtual Environments for Clinical Psychology. Officially started on the 1st January 2001, VEPSY-updated will involve partners from an international network of academic institutions and industrial companies.
The main goal of the project is to prove the technical and clinical viability of using portable and shared Virtual Reality systems in clinical psychology.
The project will provide both innovative VR based tools for the treatment of patients, clinical trials to verify their viability and action plans for dissemination of its results. The selected disorders are: panic disorder, social phobia and agoraphobia; obesity, bulimia and binge-eating disorders; male impotence and premature ejaculation. HTLab developed original methods for ergonoimics investigation for this special kind of environments.

The main goal of the project is to prove the technical and clinical viability of using portable and shared Virtual Reality systems in clinical psychology. The project will provide both innovative VR based tools for the treatment of patients, clinical trials to verify their viability and action plans for dissemination of its results.The selected disorders are: panic disorder, social phobia and agoraphobia; obesity, bulimia and binge-eating disorders; male impotence and premature ejaculation.To reach this goal in 1999 different US government institutions funded the research in this area with 22 million US$ vs. less that 2 million Euros from EU institutions. In this sense the project, joining the major European players in the field aims at creating a sufficient critical mass to make the EU-based research more competitive.

References:

Spagnolli, A., Gamberini, L., Cottone, P., Mmantovani, G. (2004). Ergonomics of Virtual Environments for Clinical Applications. In: Riva G., Botella C., Legeron P., Optale G., Cybertherapy: Internet and Virtual Reality as Assessment and Rehabilitation Tools for Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience. Amsterdam, IOS Press (Netherlands), pp. 217-230.

Riva, G., Alcañiz, M., Anolli, L., Bacchetta, M., Baños, R., Buselli, C., … & Weddle, C. (2003). Virtual reality for psycho-neurological assessment and rehabilitation. Annual Review of CyberTherapy and Telemedicine.

Riva, G., Alcañiz, M., Anolli, L., Bacchetta, M., Banos, R., Buselli, C., … & Weddle, C. (2003). The VEPSY UPDATED Project: clinical rationale and technical approach. Cyberpsychology & behavior, 6(4), 433-439.

Riva, G., Alcañiz, M., Anolli, L., Bacchetta, M., Banos, R., Beltrame, F., … & Troiani, R. (2002). The VEPSY UPDATED project: technical and clinical rationale. In Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 02/10 (pp. 395-401). IOS Press.

Riva, G., Alcañiz, M., Anolli, L., Bacchetta, M., Banos, R., Beltrame, F., … & Troiani, R. (2001). The VEPSY updated project: virtual reality in clinical psychology. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 4(4), 449-455.

Awards:

6 May 2004 – The group Mantovani, Gamberini, Spagnolli, Cottone, working on UE ­ IST project “Vepsy Updated”, wins the “Honorable Mention” Award, as second best projects in the Home-Care and Telemedicine area.