Virtual Reality Patients Devised to Train Psychologists

Albert “Skip” Rizzo (University of Southern California)

A University of Southern California researcher developed conversational virtual patients with symptoms of clinical psychological disorders that can interact with therapists. Albert “Skip” Rizzo of USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies (pictured right) discussed his research today in a session of American Psychological Association’s annual meeting in Orlando.

Because of advances in technology, virtual humans can be highly interactive, artificially intelligent, and capable of carrying on a conversation with real humans. And as the technology improves, says Rizzo, “it will have a significant impact on how clinical training is conducted in psychology and medicine.”

At the APA meeting, Rizzo showed videos of two virtual patients:

– “Justin,” a 16-year-old with a conduct disorder who is being forced by his family to participate in therapy, and

– “Justina,” a more advanced example of the technology, designed as a sexual assault victim with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Justina is programmed with speech recognition technology that enables her to answer questions from therapists, from which therapists can make a diagnosis. In early tests 15 psychiatry residents, of whom six were women, were asked to perform a 15-minute interaction with Justina.

Results of these initial tests are being fed into the design of new virtual characters for military clinical training, funded by the Department of Defense. These future virtual patients being developed are veterans with depression and suicidal thoughts, to train clinicians and other military personnel to recognize the risk for suicide or violence.

“What’s so useful about this technology,” says Rizzo, “is novice clinicians can gain exposure to the presentation of a variety of clinical conditions in a safe and effective environment before interacting with actual patients.”

This video shows a portion of one therapist’s interactions with Justina.

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