[Virtual reality in teaching using mentally ill patient avatars]. / Virtuelle Realität in der Lehre mit psychisch kranken Patientenavataren.

BACKGROUND: Medical interaction and exploration techniques are the most important tools that medical students have to acquire in the subject of psychiatry and psychotherapy. The new digital technologies currently available, such as virtual reality (VR), as important supplements can contribute to a significant improvement in the teaching of psychiatric-psychopathological learning content as well as, in particular, the technique of ascertaining the psychiatric history and diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of the Bochum Avatar Exploration Project (AVEX) as part of the curricular course in medical studies at the Ruhr University Bochum for its possibilities to convey learning content and techniques of anamnesis and diagnosis in the subject of psychiatry and psychotherapy. METHODS: In AVEX, a total of 87 medical students in the clinical study section have so far been able to enter into a dialogue with "mentally ill" avatars and gain experience with VR technology as a learning and teaching method in the subject of psychiatry and psychotherapy. RESULTS: Despite the limited possibilities for interaction with the digital avatars, it is possible to achieve a substantial transfer of learning content in psychiatry; however, the students must be well supported by the lecturers. CONCLUSION: The AVEX project already shows promising possibilities for supplementing the teaching of medical students, even if the fit of questions and replies in dialogue with the virtual avatars still needs to be improved. As advances in the linguistic communication of emotions and the visual effects of the avatar representation can be predicted, the significance of this technology will continue to increase.

Computer-based mother-infant interaction analysis and mental functioning in postpartum depression.

BACKGROUND: Among mothers suffering from postpartum depression (PD), 10-13% additionally experience a mother-infant interaction disturbance that causes a severe mental health risk for the infant. Besides depressive symptomology, the underlying factors promoting dysfunctional maternal interaction behavior have not yet been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, we examined potential relationships between computer-based mother-infant interaction among postpartum depressed dyads and maternal mental functioning. METHODS: Mother-infant interaction was video-recorded and evaluated via a computer-based micro-interaction analysis program (INTERACT). We included only 25 hospitalized mother-infant dyads that fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of PD and tested mothers on their mental functioning (empathy, theory of mind, meta-cognition and alexithymia). RESULTS: Behavioral interaction analyses indicated that mothers with PD were prone to inactive maternal behavior, less positive maternal behavior along with more rejective behavior and also disengaged affect towards the infant. Distortions in mothers' mental functioning may have had an influence on the dysfunctional patterns of mother-infant dyads. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive and social functioning could be an influencing factor on dysfunctional maternal interaction behavior. Early detection of distortions of mental processing in expectant mothers might help to inhibit the clinical manifestation of dysfunctional mother-infant bonding and negative child outcome in PD.

Impairments of Social Interaction in Depressive Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Despite the numerous findings on the altered emotion recognition and dysfunctional social interaction behavior of depressive patients, a lot of the relationships are not clearly clarified. METHODS: In this pilot study, 20 depressive patients (mean±SD, 38.4±14.2) and 20 healthy subjects (mean±SD, 38.9±15.3) (each in dyads) were videographed. We then analyzed their social interaction behavior and emotion processing in terms of emotion recognition, their own emotional experience, and the expression of emotions under the conditions of a semi-structured experimental paradigm. RESULTS: Patients showed more significant impairment regarding the dimensions of social interaction behavior (i.e., attention, interest, and activity) and their interaction behavior was characterized by neutral affectivity, silence, and avoidance of direct eye contact. This interactive behavioral style was statistically related to depressive psychopathology. There were no differences concerning emotion recognition. CONCLUSION: Impairments of non-verbal and verbal social interaction behavior of depressive patients seem to be less associated with disturbances of basic skills of emotion recognition.