Search Results

Along other breakthroughs in computer sciences, such as artificial intelligence, virtual characters (i.e. digitally represented characters featuring a human appearance or not) are foreseen as potential providers of mental healthcare services. However, their current use in clinical practice is marginal and limited to an assistive role to help clinicians in their practices. Safety and efficiency concerns, as well as a general lack of knowledge and experience, may explain this discrepancy between the expected (sometimes futuristic) and current use of virtual characters. An overview of recent evidence would help pinpoint the main concerns and challenges pertaining to their use in mental healthcare. Objective This paper aims to inform relevant actors, including clinicians, on the potential of virtual characters in mental healthcare practices and to raise awareness on societal challenges regarding their use.Method A narrative literature review was conducted to summarize basic and clinical research findings, and to outline an in-depth discussion on various societal caveats related to the inclusion of virtual characters.Results Basic studies highlight several characteristics of the virtual characters that seem to influence patient-clinician interactions. These characteristics can be classified into two categories: perceptual (e.g. realism) and social features (i.e. attribution of social categories such as gender). To this day, many interventions and/or assessments using virtual characters have shown various levels of efficiency in mental health, and certain elements of a therapeutic relationship (e.g. alliance and empathy) may even be triggered during an interaction with a virtual character. To develop and increase the use of virtual characters, numerous socioeconomic and ethical issues must be examined. Although the accessibility and the availability of virtual characters are an undeniable advantage for their use in mental healthcare, some inequities about their application remain. In addition, the accumulation of biometric data (e.g. heart rate) could provide valuable information to clinicians and could help develop autonomous virtual characters, which raises concerns over issues of security and privacy. This paper proposes some recommendations to avoid such undesirable outcomes.Conclusion Due to their promising features, the inclusion of virtual characters will no doubt be increasingly prevalent in mental healthcare services. All involved actors should thus be informed about specific challenges raised by such breakthroughs. They should also actively participate in discussions regarding the development of virtual characters in order to adopt unified recommendations for their safe and ethical use in mental healthcare.

Keywords: personnages virtuels, avatars, agents virtuels, santé mentale, psychothérapie, virtual characters, avatars, virtual agents, mental health, psychotherapy

Lack of parents' emotional availability and unpredictable responses to the child's needs have important consequences for the development of affect regulation and mature defense mechanisms. Children exposed to potentially traumatic events in the parent-child relationship have greater risk of developing borderline personality features. This exploratory study aims to identify characteristics that may be related to borderline personality and could be observed in a free play segment. The research involved 15 school-aged children living in foster care facilities under the Child Protective Services who have been exposed to traumatic events in their family. Participants completed the French version of the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children (BPFS-C) and participated in a 30 minutes free play session. The play segments were analyzed using the Children's Play Therapy Instrument (CPTI). Firstly, the sample's characteristics are described. Secondly, correlation is used to explore the relationships between borderline personality features, defense mechanisms, affect regulation and characteristics of the play. Results suggest that the play segment of the majority of the participants show traumatic play, immature defense mechanisms, and rigid affect regulation. Finally, the type of defense mechanisms seems to be related to the ability to regulate affects.

Keywords: traits de personnalité limite, trauma, jeu libre, mécanismes de défense, régulation des affects, enfant, borderline personality features, trauma, free play, defense mechanisms, regulation of affects, child

This research focuses on the relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM) and psychodrama group with a group of adolescents with intellectual disability (ID average; IQ between 45 and 55) in Medical-Educational Institute (IME). The study tested the hypothesis that the practice of psychodrama group improves the Theory of Mind. For this, researchers conducted an assessment in two stages (T0 before the establishment of psychodrama and T1 after 12 sessions) of the Theory of Mind (ToM) with two groups: an experimental group of 6 adolescent participating in “psychodrama” groups and a control group of 9 participants from the same structure. Results shows that, in some respects, psychodrama can contribute to the development of ToM, particularly in understanding the emotions of others.

AbstractReferring to the statements of four participants, several factors which influenced the beginnings and the development of the psychology of intervention in Quebec can be identified : the social, political and religious context; the role played by the universities and private organizations; the main sources of influence relating to the theories and models of intervention. Also to be found in this document is the position of each of the participants regarding the work of the psychosociologist in Quebec.