Communications of the ACM
New Generation of Virtual Humans Helping to Train Psychologists
University of Southern California professor Albert Rizzo
Credit: USC
University of Southern California professor Albert Rizzo has created virtual humans who can interact with therapists via a computer screen and realistically display the symptoms of a patient with clinical psychological disorders.
"As this technology continues to improve, it will have a significant impact on how clinical training is conducted in psychology and medicine," Rizzo says. The technology includes two virtual patients, one of which is a 16-year-old with a conduct disorder who is being forced by his family to participate in therapy. The other virtual patient is a sexual assault victim who was designed to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Rizzo eventually plans to create a comprehensive computer training module that has a wide range of virtual patients with numerous diagnoses for use by psychiatric and psychology educators and trainees. "What’s so useful about this technology 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," Rizzo says.
From American Psychological Association
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