Rates of depression and anxiety, high even before COVID-19, have increased in recent years thanks to the pandemic. The World Health Organization estimates that these diseases affect a quarter of the world’s population and cost the global economy $1 trillion per year. Treatment includes talk therapy, but much can be done within the confines of a clinician’s office.
A Northeast professor is part of the solution to try to change that.
Sarah Ostadabbas, associate professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, is leading a National Science Foundation grant with the University of Pittsburgh to develop technology that will use augmented reality (AR) to help treat adolescents with anxiety and of depression. The proposed system would use hardware specifically AR glasses and machine learning software to create an immersive 3D environment to help patients face their fears more realistically, while an EEG sensor monitoring their brain activities would allow therapists to track patients’ brain signals, their responses to fear stimuli, and their progress after prescribed treatment. treatment.
Depression and anxiety have increased dramatically and, unfortunately, many of these teens do not respond well to the therapy they are prescribed, Osradabbas said. Adolescents who do not respond to standard treatment are at greater risk of serious outcomes, including suicide and reduced life expectancy. Exposure therapy, a well-known treatment, involves gradual exposure to real-world fears. However, asking teens to self-monitor their fear levels can be difficult. This disrupts their immersion in real-life experiences, reduces their authenticity, and may be forgotten, especially in times of heightened social anxiety.
Osradabbas, with expertise in machine learning, computer vision and the development of mixed reality technologies, has already partnered with engineers at the University of Pittsburgh to create the first technology of its kind to analyze signals from the brain to control the display of content in the AR environment. The new grant will go even further in advancing this technology to modify treatment by providing the ability to expose patients to their stressors through augmented reality.
This, combined with monitoring brain signals, can allow therapists to track patients’ progress and change the intensity of exposure as needed.
Our expertise in augmented reality systems allows us to create specific scenarios within the augmented reality environment, which means that the specific scenario can then be very immersive, Osardabbas said. This will be in 3D and can also be overlaid on different environments and conditions.
There is currently no product of this type on the market. Researchers hope the new technology will fill the existing treatment gap by allowing teens to practice facing their fears more realistically.
The glasses can be used to expose patients to fears like public speaking, Osardabbas said.
Monitoring brain signals can help therapists make diagnoses and track progress over time by seeing how patients respond to their fears in the glasses and working with them to overcome them accordingly.
Osardabbas said this can be a more effective way to determine whether treatment is working because it shows how patients feel rather than relying on them to communicate it.
This project involves creating innovative machine learning algorithms to detect and quantify fear levels in response to various stimuli solely through the analysis of brain signals, she added.
Researchers will also collaborate with community experts and provide training to partners working with high school through graduate students.
Erin Kayata is a reporter for Northeastern Global News. Email him at e.kayata@northeastern.edu. Follow her on X/Twitter @erin_kayata.
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