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The Impact of Technology on Childhood and Adolescence

On Friday, November 17, Dr. Brenda K Wiederhold gave the invited keynote address at the Cyberbullying, Psychological Well-Being of Teenagers and New Media Conference in Milan, Italy.  The conference was attended by parents, reserachers, clinicians and heads of the Fondazione Varenna, Municipal Council of Milan and Lombardy Region General Welfare Directorate.   The presentation focused on both the positive and the negative impact that Virtual Reality and Social Networking are having on today’s children and adolescents.  We must work together to embrace the positive and develop strategies to correct the negative.

 

http://duerrecongressi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/okbis04-bullismo-17-novembre-2017.pdf

 

 

In her November 2017 editorial for CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking Journal, she addresses the digital anxieties shaping our next generation’s mental health.

 

http://online.liebertpub.com/toc/cyber/20/11

 

 

 

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Phobias Born of Our High-Tech Lifestyles

http://www.medicaldaily.com/smartphone-separation-anxiety-may-be-linked-personal-memories-study-says-421507

 

“Nomophobia, fear of missing out (FoMo), and fear of being offline (FoBo), — all anxieties born of our new high-tech lifestyles — may be treated similarly to other more traditional phobias,” Wiederhold said in a statement.“Exposure therapy, in this case turning off technology periodically, can teach individuals to reduce anxiety and become comfortable with periods of disconnectedness.”
                                                                                                                                                                                           
Contact Information:
frontoffice @ vrphobia.com
+1 858 642 0267
Professor Dr. Brenda K Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCB, BCN

Virtual Reality Expands to Phobia and PTSD Therapy

http://www.abc10.com/news/local/virtual-reality-expanding-in-phobia-and-ptsd-therapy-education-gaming/394991048

Wiederhold’s clinic already uses the technology for medical therapy to help patients deal with PTSD, anxiety, phobias (like fear of flying), pain during medical procedures and chronic pain. She predicts more clinics using VR will pop-up in California and across the country within the near future.

 

 

 

 

Contact Information:

Virtual Reality Medical Center

9834 Genesee Avenue, Suite 427

La Jolla, California USA

frontoffice @ vrphobia.com

Asia-Pacific Analysis: R&D spending boosts development

http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/r-d/analysis-blog/asia-pacific-analysis-r-d-spending-boosts-development.html

R&D investment lessons from China

There are lessons in R&D investment to be learned from China.  The Chinese government encourages Chinese companies to create and own technologies, and also transfer technology from abroad, according to American author and editor Professor Dr. Brenda K Wiederhold. [2]  “As a result, a number of multinational technology and pharmaceutical companies have taken advantage of this policy” to transfer facilities from India. The Chinese government owns all top-ranked academies and has tripled its investment in education in the past 12 years, she notes. These universities emphasise research. “Of the five million students graduating per year, about one million are research students. And China’s academicians file more patent applications than those in any other country — 16 percent compared to 4 percent in the United States,” Wiederhold adds.

[2] Brenda K. Wiederhold  Investment in Innovation:  Lessons Learned from China (CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Volume 14, Number 4, 2011)

Contact Information:

Virtual Reality Medical Center

La Jolla, California USA

frontoffice @ vrphobia.com

When Pain is the Best Therapy

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/08/exposure-therapy/496547/

 

The Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego, for example, offers VR therapy for all manner of fears. Heights, driving, needles and blood, spiders, enclosed spaces—you name it, they treat it. First steps in traditional phobia treatment sometimes involve imagining fearful scenarios, but a patient’s mind is naturally resistant to those thoughts and will go to some lengths to avoid fleshing out terrifying visions. Virtual reality scenarios have proved useful in social phobias, wherein patients have a debilitating fear of interacting with other people.

To schedule an appointment at one of our Southern California Clinics (Sorrento Valley, La Jolla and Coronado), please contact us at:   frontoffice @ vrphobia.com

Virtual Reality Breakthroughs Save Lives

https://theamericangenius.com/tech-news/virtual-reality-breakthroughs-save-lives/

 

VARIOUS THERAPIES ARE RIPE FOR VR

Therapy is another sector that’s highly compatible with VR, particularly when it comes to phobias. Patients interested in treating their panic and anxiety disorders with exposure therapy can find a convenient solution in the technological updates VR brings to the table. The Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego employs headsets in order to “[place] the client in a computer-generated world where they ‘experience’ the various stimuli related to the phobia.”

The Center uses this method to treat specific phobias, chronic pain and other anxiety and stress-related disorders.

To schedule an appointment at our Southern California area clinics (Sorrento Valley, La Jolla or Coronado), please contact us at frontoffice @ vrphobia.com

How to Cope with Your Fears

Up to 9 percent of the U.S. population has a specific phobia, according to the APA, including claustrophobia. Few seek help. “The phobias are the most predominant anxiety disorders that there are, but most [people with] them never get any treatment,” Wilson says. Instead, they do their best to avoid the situations that scare them.

But people who seek help can overcome their fears. “This isn’t like Type 1 diabetes,” which has to be managed through life, Wilson says. Nor is it something that people can usually “just get over,” adds Brenda Wiederhold, a clinical psychologist who treats anxiety disorders at the Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego and Brussels. She says fear that’s unrelenting, excessive and irrational should drive patients to see a professional who treats anxiety. “If you’re starting to avoid things; if you know you need a medical test and you put off the MRI for a year – that’s when it’s gone from a fear to a phobia,” she says, noting that the condition typically manifests when people with a genetic predisposition for an anxiety disorder face a life stressor.

Even people whose claustrophobia-related anxiety isn’t debilitating or constant can improve with treatment. “Whether you have the disorder or you don’t have the disorder, if you have something that’s unpleasant to you, and you want to get rid of it – that’s the sign to get help,” Wilson says.

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/08/exposure-therapy/496547/

Exposure therapy, a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, involves subjecting patients to increasing amounts of things they fear, or otherwise hope to avoid. It is one of the great success stories of mental health, and it’s not just for phobias…

Recently, a more palatable route has been introduced with virtual reality. The Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego, for example, offers VR therapy for all manner of fears. Heights, driving, needles and blood, spiders, enclosed spaces—you name it, they treat it. First steps in traditional phobia treatment sometimes involve imagining fearful scenarios, but a patient’s mind is naturally resistant to those thoughts and will go to some lengths to avoid fleshing out terrifying visions. Virtual reality scenarios have proved useful in social phobias, wherein patients have a debilitating fear of interacting with other people.

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+1 858 642 0267

frontoffice@vrphobia.com

Dr. Mark Wiederhold Featured on the Price of Business.com

Dr. Mark Wiederhold of the Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego, California, was interviewed by Dr. Colleen Mullen of CoachingThroughChaos.com. Check out the links below to read the article and listen to the podcast!

 

Article: http://priceofbusiness.com/virtual-reality-dedication-know-how-passion-the-virtual-reality-medical-center-what-an-experience/

Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/coachingthroughchaos/001-virtual-reality-medical-center-w-dr-mwiederhold

 

For more information about Dr. Colleen Mullen or about becoming a guest on the podcast, please check out CoachingThroughChaos.com