With the recent health crisis, the project took a turn and became a virtual reality viewer Photo: Autonomous University of Querétaro.
The covid-19 pandemic left, among other things, psychosocial conditions such as stress, anxiety and depressionbefore which a team of academics, researchers and students pooled their knowledge to offer society a technological option to overcome them: the so-called ‘vaccine against loneliness’.
One of the main creators, Dr. Luis Alberto Morales Hernández, coordinator of the Electromechanical Engineering degree at the Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ), explained in an interview for RT that about 10 years ago they began working on a device that could measure a person’s moods.
However, with the recent health crisis, the project took a turn and became a virtual reality viewer with which, in addition to detecting their emotions, users will be able to enter hyperreal environments that will help them, with the support of specialists in mental health, to have the confidence to be able to function as they did before confinement.
“We named it the ‘vaccine against loneliness’ because apparently we no longer lived in society, but alone,” highlights the academic, who details that although there were people who resumed their normal activities after the pandemic, others have not. I have.
How does it work
The vaccine works with a viewer, a mobile phone, a QR reader and a test – previously carried out by a psychologist – with which the most suitable environment for treatment is determined.
The device captures, among other things, heart rate and temperature. “If we can get them to improve from the first session, we know that it will work in the long term, if not, we change the environment,” Morales Hernández clarifies.
According to the professor, emphasis has been placed on specialists first mastering the treatment, to later put it at the service of society. Photo: Autonomous University of Querétaro.
In total there are eight sessions, but the experience so far has shown the creative team that from the fourth the user has a significant improvement and is beginning to control their emotions.
According to the professor, emphasis has been placed on specialists first mastering the treatment, to later put it at the service of society.
hyperreal environments
Luis Alberto Morales Hernández defines the environments with which the virtual reality viewer works as those spaces that help give the strength to go out into the outside world.
Photo: Safe Environment Environment (Memories with Grandma). Autonomous University of Queretaro.
“Normally they tell you ‘close your eyes and start imagining’, but here it is simply starting to explore this virtual environment and it manages to capture us immersively,” he explains.
For example, adult users can visit hyperreal places where they first find few people and progressively join more, with the aim of reducing or removing the anguish that currently causes many people to go out and be in the middle of the hustle and bustle, because they already they are not used to
“It is to help them little by little to know what their body is feeling and how to control it”, emphasizes the specialist.
Recreation area environment for children. Photo: Autonomous University of Querétaro.
Other environments, he narrates, are built with objects or situations that could mean memories for people, something with which they feel identified and that can help alleviate some psychosocial condition.
Likewise, there are places for children where they are given the confidence they need to feel integrated, since according to the researcher, the pandemic left many of them afraid of going out and interacting with other peers of their age, for fear of contracting the disease. covid-19.
The creative team
The vaccine against loneliness involves areas such as architecture, mechatronics and psychology.
“It was quite a challenge, however, we were clear about the objective, which was to use what we now call the metaverse to be able to provide care for psychosocial conditions,” says Morales Hernández.
In addition to research professors from the UAQ, specialists from the University of Colima, the Metropolitan Autonomous University, as well as the National Autonomous University of Mexico are involved in the project.
Part of the creative team of the Vaccine against loneliness. Photo: Autonomous University of Querétaro.
The National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) has also provided resources to buy equipment and grant scholarships to students who participate in the development of the device.
For now, the vaccine is being tested with the community at the Autonomous University of Querétaro, but will soon be tested with breast cancer survivors and at a psychological care center in Mexico City.
Depression in Mexico and the world
According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), depression “is a disease characterized by persistent sadness and loss of interest in activities that are normally enjoyed, as well as the inability to carry out carry out daily activities, for at least two weeks.
Some of the symptoms of the disease are loss of energy, changes in appetite and sleep schedules, anxiety, decreased concentration, indecisiveness, restlessness, feelings of worthlessness, guilt or hopelessness, and thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
In Mexico, 3.6 million adults suffer from depression; Of these, 1% are severe cases, as revealed by a study carried out in 2021 by the Psychiatric Care Services (SAP) of the Ministry of Health.
Globally, data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that depression affects 3.8% of the population, including 5% of adults and 5.7% of adults over 60 years of age. This means that approximately 280 million people have the disease.
(Taken from RT in Spanish)
