Mental Health Symposium, Friday, April 16, 2021, “Mental Health in Trying Times”

Virtual Ability Presents

the 10th Annual Mental Health Symposium
“Mental Health in Trying Times”

Friday, April 16, 2021
Sojourner Auditorium,
Virtual Ability Island
In Second Life

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/53/172/23

The 10th annual Mental Health Symposium will take place in Virtual Ability’s Sojourner Auditorium, on Virtual Ability island on Friday, April 16, 2021. There is no charge to attend.

The theme of this Symposium is “Mental Health in Trying Times.”  Our international group of presenters will offer a wide interpretation of the theme, based on their interests and academic backgrounds.

The Symposium will take place in the virtual world of Second Life, at the Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability island. The SLURL for the auditorium is:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/53/172/23.  (You can create a free Second Life account through Virtual Ability’s Sign-Up Portal (https://virtualability.org/second-life-signup/), entering at the beginning of our New Resident Orientation Course. You can then post the auditorium’s SLURL into Nearby Chat, click the green underlined link, and teleport to the auditorium.)

Virtual Ability hosts this annual Symposium to share information about mental health and mental disabilities with the general population. Within our cross-disability community we have members who deal with a variety of mental health issues. Not only is this an opportunity for our community members to learn more about topics related to mental health from experts they probably would not have a chance to meet otherwise, it allows the general public to attend a professional conference at no cost.

Below is the full schedule for the conference.

Mental Health Symposium 2021 Schedule of Events

April 16, 2021. All times are in SLT/PST.

Start Time	Presenter Name	Institution
7:00 am	Clara González Sanguino	Anti-stigma chair University Complutense of Madrid - Group 5
Title of Talk: The impact of Covid-19 on our mental health: A longitudinal study from the beginning of the pandemic to the return to the new normality in Spain
Presenter Biography: Clara González Sanguino has just obtained her PhD in psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid, where she is currently on a postdoctoral fellowship and part of the anti-stigma chair UCM-Group 5. Her research is mainly focused on the stigma associated with different mental health problems, and with the arrival of Covid-19 on the consequences of the pandemic for mental health.
Summary of Talk: Spain has been one of the countries most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, leading the world on several occasions in the number of infected and dead people. The aim of this research was to know the consequences throughout the first wave of the pandemic on depressive symptomatology, anxiety and post-traumatic stress by means of a longitudinal study in the general population. Other measures such as loneliness, spiritual well-being, discrimination or social support were also evaluated. The results showed the impact on mental health over the months, with values appearing to improve with the return to the new normal. Loneliness, spiritual well-being, being female and younger age were the main predictors of the impact on our mental health.
8:30 am	Laura Ritchie and Daniel P. Cervone	University of Chichester Conservatoire, UK and University of Illinois at Chicago
Title of Talk: Projects pursued and abandoned: Pandemic reactions of care & coping
Presenter Biography: Laura Ritchie is Professor of Learning and Teaching at the University of Chichester, UK. Laura’s teaching is heavily influenced by her research into people’s self-efficacy beliefs and metacognitive processes as they learn and perform/carry out tasks. Her recent book Yes I Can: Learn to use the Power of Self-efficacy is a practical and personal book about self-efficacy, strategic thinking, and recognising possibility in order to adopt the yes of self-efficacy into daily life. Daniel Cervone is Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research has addressed issues in social-cognitive analysis of personality and behavior including self-efficacy processes, self-regulation, and the influence of affective states on thinking about the self. In recent years his main effort has been to advance a model of the overall architecture of cognitive and affective personality systems: The Knowledge and Appraisal Personality Architecture or KAPA model, which, in research by Dan and others has shown how social-cognitive systems can account for a classic phenomenon in personality psychology, namely, the cross-situational consistency of psychological response.
Summary of Talk: In early 2020 with the global spread of COVID-19, ‘lockdown’ imposed travel restrictions that affected many aspects of day to day living, including the pursuit of meaningful personal goals. This study investigated the impact of that initial period of lockdown on people’s views and self-beliefs about personal projects they were already working to complete when they were suddenly interrupted. Participants were invited to complete an online questionnaire collecting both qualitative and quantitative data about self-efficacy beliefs and free text responses describing their goals and projects, whether they believed they could still complete them, if and how they were pursuing them, and whether they still cared about the project. At the time, life had been ‘normal’ only a few weeks before and participants were able to compare how they felt both before and in these new lockdown conditions. There was a notable drop in self-efficacy levels; over two thirds of the 161 participants were either unsure or did not believe they could still carry out their goals. Over a quarter either abandoned or were uncertain they could pursue their goals, but despite this, people continued to care about their goals. The self-reported strategies for dealing with the new situation included aspects of emotional and problem-focused coping and involved active planning and engaging with metacognitive strategies. The implications and usefulness of creative engagement and strategies for coping with realigned goals beyond lockdown are discussed.
10:00 am	Catherine Ettman	Boston University School of Public Health
Title of Talk: Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A story of depression and growing inequity
Presenter Biography: Catherine Ettman is Chief of Staff and Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Dean’s Office at Boston University School of Public Health. Catherine is pursuing a PhD in Health Services Research at Brown University School of Public Health. Catherine studied public policy at Princeton University. She has previously worked in campaign politics in Washington, D.C., and Texas. She is the co-editor of Urban Health (Oxford University Press, 2019). Her work explores the social and economic factors that shape population mental health.
Summary of Talk: While the COVID-19 pandemic has upended daily life for all people, the economic and mental health consequences of the moment have not been borne equally. This presentation will report the first findings published in the U.S. on depression severity experienced during the pandemic relative to before COVID-19, and emerging trends for increasing inequities. We will explore leading edge data on mental health, assets, and what we can learn from this moment to build back a better world post-pandemic.
11:30 am	Tom Boellstorff, Evan Conaway, Sandy Wenger	University of California, Irvine
Title of Talk: Virtual Worlds, Mental Well-Being, and COVID
Presenter Biography: Tom Boellstorff: I’m a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. My original research was about sexuality in Indonesia and includes the books The Gay Archipelago and A Coincidence of Desires. Since 2004 I have been studying the cultures of virtual worlds, and have written about this in my books Coming of Age in Second Life and Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method. I have also studied disability in virtual worlds. Two articles about that research are “The Ability of Place” and “The Opportunity to Contribute.” I’m excited to be working with Evan and Sandy on this project! Evan Conaway: I’m a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine! My focus is on video game preservation, and in my dissertation I explore the motivations, values, and strategies of people who are working to bring old online virtual worlds back to life, closely examining the challenges and meanings that emerge as a result of the centrality of servers to these endeavors. I have also worked on projects related to mental wellness among youth online, LGBTQ gaming communities, and data localization laws. I’ve been an avid gamer since I was a kid, and I’m thrilled to be bringing my passion for games, virtual worlds, and specifically Animal Crossing to this project! Sandy Wenger: I am a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. My research is about love and relationships among queer men in Malaysia. I examine how men navigate competing ideas about masculinity, sexuality, and male bodies in their relationships with one another. Before moving to the US, I spent several years working at a university college in Malaysia where I taught classes on food and culture, culture and media policies, and research methods in the social sciences. While I do play the occasional game (this may or may not primarily happen on my phone), participating in a project that focuses on virtual worlds is new and exciting for me.
Summary of Talk: This talk is based on a research project supported by the National Science Foundation, involving four anthropologists (Tom Boellstorff, Evan Conaway, Chandra Middleton, and Sandy Wenger) and the filmmaker Bernhard Drax. With a primary data collection period of July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, the research project took place entirely online, focusing on the virtual worlds Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) and Second Life. In this talk we will focus on ACNH, with some comparative insights from Second Life. We will discuss how residents of these virtual worlds have used them to respond to the challenges of the pandemic with regard to mental well-being, as well as ways in which the virtual worlds were experienced as less beneficial to mental well-being. At this early stage of our data analysis, we will set forth some preliminary conclusions and their broader implications, and look forward to audience questions and insights.
1:00 pm	Ryan Schultz	University of Manitoba, Canada
Title of Talk: Acedia During the Coronavirus Pandemic: A 5th-Century Term for a 21st-Century Problem
Presenter Biography: Ryan Schultz is a science and agriculture librarian at the University of Manitoba Libraries in Winnipeg, Canada, and for the last three and half years he has been writing a blog about social VR, virtual worlds, and the metaverse (including coverage of steals, deals, and freebies in Second Life!) at https://ryanschultz.com. From time to time he writes about other topics, such as the pandemic, and mental health issues (he is a mental health consumer and he writes from that perspective).
Summary of Talk: Acedia, described as listlessness, distraction, and wanting to avoid the task at hand, was first identified by 5th century monk and theologian John Cassian. The spatial and social constrictions of 5th-century monastic life are also a rather apt and concise description of the governmental and societal responses to the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing limits physical contact, and quarantines and lockdowns constrict physical space and movement. Working from home day after day, and rarely leaving that space, means a distinct lack of external stimulation. In other words, the 21st-century coronavirus pandemic conditions we face ironically approximate those of 5th-century solitary desert monks.
2:30 pm	Mark Czeisler	Monash University (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
Title of Talk: Mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic—disproportionately affected populations
Presenter Biography: Mark Czeisler, A.B. (he/him), is a Fulbright Scholar and Ph.D. student in psychology at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health of Monash University (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia). He is also a Research Trainee in the Department of Psychiatry of Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts, USA), and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute for Breathing and Sleep of Austin Health (Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia). Since March 2020, Mark has been leading The COVID-19 Outbreak Public Evaluation (COPE) Initiative, a public health surveillance activity launched to assess (1) public attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation, and (2) mental and behavioral health during the infectious disease outbreak.
Summary of Talk: The COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation have introduced challenges for communities related to the morbidity and mortality caused by the disease itself, and related to mental and behavioral health. Just as with the disease itself, mental and behavioral health inequities are evident. This presentation reviews evidence on mental and behavioral health in 2020, particularly in terms of populations that have disproportionately experienced adverse mental and behavioral health symptoms, and considers how we may reduce these inequities going forward.

Mental Health Mini Film Festival #4 of 4: “A Brilliant Madness: John Nash”

What: Mental Health Mini Film Festival

When: May 31 - June 8

Where: Blue Orchid Cabana Classroom, Virtual Ability island

• We will view each film together, commenting throughout in text chat. Then we will discuss when we are all done viewing. Each film is Closed Captioned.

Fourth and Final Entry!

What: “A Brilliant Madness: John Nash”
When: Monday, June 8, 11:30am SLT
Where: Blue Orchid Cabana Classroom, Virtual Ability island

• John Nash was a young and brilliant mathematician whose theoretical discoveries have applications in many fields. This documentary follows the life of Nash, the exceptional mathematician who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994 for his work despite having severe mental illness. You may recall part of his story from the movie “A Beautiful Mind.”

Mental Health Mini Film Festival #3 of 4: “Overpill”

What: Mental Health Mini Film Festival

When: May 31 - June 8

Where: Blue Orchid Cabana Classroom, Virtual Ability island

• We will view each film together, commenting throughout in text chat. Then we will discuss when we are all done viewing. Each film is Closed Captioned.

Third Entry!

What: “Overpill”
When: Thursday, June 4, noon SLT
Where: Blue Orchid Cabana Classroom, Virtual Ability island

• This documentary highlights the effects of Big Pharma and its interests in treating (but not curing) mental illness. The pharmaceutical industry has capitalized on the public's awareness of mental illnesses to sell medications with known severe side effects and the danger of addiction.

Mental Health Mini Film Festival #2 of 4: “Bedlam: The history of Bethlem Hospital”

What: Mental Health Mini Film Festival

When: May 31 - June 8

Where: Blue Orchid Cabana Classroom, Virtual Ability island

• We will view each film together, commenting throughout in text chat. Then we will discuss when we are all done viewing. Each film is Closed Captioned.

Second Entry!

What: “Bedlam: The history of Bethlem Hospital”
When: Monday, June 1, 2pm SLT
Where: Blue Orchid Cabana Classroom, Virtual Ability island

• This film documents the infamous psychiatric facility through archaeology and the research of psychiatric historians. Skeletons in a graveyard under the streets of London and antique texts help us understand the cruel and inhumane treatments of persons who may (or may not) have been mentally ill that were common from the 1600s up into modern times.

Mental Health Mini Film Festival #1 of 4: “Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated”

What: Mental Health Mini Film Festival

When: May 31 - June 8

Where: Blue Orchid Cabana Classroom, Virtual Ability island

• We will view each film together, commenting throughout in text chat. Then we will discuss when we are all done viewing. Each film is Closed Captioned.

First Up!

What: “Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated”
When: Sunday, May 31, 7am SLT
Where: Blue Orchid Cabana Classroom, Virtual Ability island

• Demi Lovato is a singer, actress, and TV personality. She acted as a child on Barney and Friends, then in some Disney movies. Now she has released several popular studio albums. This film is a personal look at the star's life including her experience with an eating disorder, bipolar disorder, and addiction.

Things To Do - "Mental Health in Second Life: Then and Now" and Mindful Cove Open House

What: Mental Health in Second Life: Then and Now

Who: Avalon Birke

When: Sunday May 24, 10am SLT

Where: Mindful Cove Amphitheater

• Mindful Cove is a new Second Life Community Gateway with a focus on mental health and emotional wellbeing. We offer a vast amount of related resources, developed and curated by real life mental health clinicians. And because we know that play is good for our brains, there are dozens of fun activities, from horseback riding, golf, fishing, dancing, and much more.  Ready to relax? We have three levels of meditation, yoga, exercise, and self-study areas...even a Rainbow Bridge to honor lost pets. 
• Visitors can go on a guided waking tour, visit with Dr. Birke and our staff of volunteers, gather mental health resources in the Library, and watch slide shows about our work in mental health.
• Presenter bio: Avalon Birke is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in real life, holds two Masters degrees, and a PhD in Cognitive Studies. She has spent the last 13 years working on a wide variety of mental health-related projects in Second Life. 

Things To Do - Mental Health Un-Conference, Week of May 25, 2020

Mental Health Un-Conference

All presentations are presented in voice and text simultaneously for maximum accessibility.
This event is part of Virtual Ability's 2020 Mental Health Un-Conference.


What: The Yellow Wallpaper
Who: Read aloud by John Laughing
When: Monday May 25, 1pm SLT
Where: Cape Serenity Library patio

• "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a short story originally published in 1892. It is considered an important early feminist work. The story tells about a woman (who would now have a diagnosis of postpartum depression) who is treated as was typical in the 19th century for "female hysteria." 
• Presenter bio: John Laughing is enjoying his time in Second Life. He attends classes and events, and is learning to build and script.

Things To Do - Mental Health Un-Conference, Week of May 18, 2020

All presentations are presented in voice and text simultaneously for maximum accessibility.
This event is part of Virtual Ability's 2020 Mental Health Un-Conference.


What: Coping with our avatars, and the people behind them
Who: Dr. Nick Bowman
When: Monday May 18, 11am-1pm SLT
Where: Yellow Hibiscus Cabana, Virtual Ability, Second Life

• A growing body of research has shown that technology users have varied social relationships with their avatars. These relationships range from asocial "Object" orientations in which avatars are nothing more than pixels, to "Me" orientations in which avatars are a true representation of ourselves in a digital world, to "Other" orientations in which avatars represent a companion in the virtual space. Research even shows "Symbiote" orientations in which users blend pieces of themselves with pieces of their avatar as a way to work through uncertainty. These relations are already dynamic and complex during somewhat routine online engagement. In the face of COVID-19 in which many around the world are becoming increasingly exposed to and reliant on online interactions, we might wonder if and how we are shifting our relationships with our avatars as a way to cope with the sudden influx of so many social others online. Following a brief presentation on user-avatar relationships, Dr. Nick Bowman will lead an open dialogue focused on how the relationships we form with our avatars might be affected by the relationships we form and foster with other users.
• Nick Bowman (PhD, Michigan State University) is an Associate Professor in the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University, where he researches the cognitive, emotional, physical, and social demands of interactive media such as video games and virtual reality. He has published over 80 manuscripts in academic journals and is a regular speaker on issues of media psychology and mass communication research. He is the incoming editor of Journal of Media Psychology and just recently completed a J. William Fulbright research and teaching fellowship at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

What: Research in Online Communities: An interactive workshop on privacy and human subjects research considerations
Who: Dr. Michelle Colder Carras
When: Wednesday May 20, 1pm SLT
Where: Yellow Hibiscus Cabana Classroom, Virtual Ability island

• Belonging to an online community can be good for your health, especially if you have a disability, but do you know the implications for your privacy? What are your thoughts and opinions about health research being conducted within online communities? How can we balance protecting health information that people share with the realities of public spaces that are accessible with only a few clicks? Join Dr. Michelle Colder Carras, a health researcher specializing in video games, online communities, and health research for a frank discussion. Questions to think about in advance are posted here. You can write out your thoughts to share during the discussion. Notes from the discussion will be used to inform designs and ethical protocols for research in online communities.
• Presenter bio: Dr. Michelle Colder Carras is a public mental health scientist and informaticist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who specializes in normative and problematic media and technology use. Her most recent work has focused on how commercial video games and gaming communities can be useful for mental health and suicide prevention. She is a gamer, a mother, a hiker, and a person with bipolar disorder. You can find more information on her website, https://mcoldercarras.com/.

What: Virtual Worlds, Real Healing for PTSD
Who: Anya Ibor/Colleen M. Crary
When: Thursday May 21, 1:00 pm
Where: Fearless Nation PTSD Support

• A review of how PTSD symptoms can be negotiated, re-framed, and resolved through virtual world activities, creating resilience in people with post-trauma. Slide show, visual presentation in voice and chat. 
• Anya Ibor, Colleen M. Crary, M.A. in RL, is a Ph.D. candidate in Psychology currently editing her research for publication. A BA in Graphic Design from SDSU and Masters in Forensic Psychology from the Chicago school, Colleen has been focused on the efficacy of virtual reality for PTSD care for over 10 years. A PTSD subject matter expert and group facilitator in SL and RL, she works as a consultant in XR (VR, UI, AR) and Cyberpsychology.

Things To Do - Virtual Ability's Mental Health Un-Conference

What: Art & Mental Health
Who: Marylou Goldrosen
When: May 12, 9:00 am
Where: Yellow Hibiscus Cabana, Virtual Ability Island

• Marylou Goldrosen will share images of paintings related to mental health from various times in history. We will learn a bit of history about the artists and their time period.
• In RL, Marylou Goldrosen is Dr. Mary Stokrocki. She is a Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University. She teaches at NonProfit Commons in Second Life at her Art Ark.

What: Mental Health in Poetry
Who: Shyla the Super Gecko
When: May 13, 10:00 am
Where: Cape Serenity Library patio

• Shyla will read poetry by poets with mental illness or on the topic of mental illness or mental health.
• Shyla began writing poetry at a young age, including lyrical expression. She has been the featured reader at poetic venues within Second Life including Sunday Spoken Word and Circe's. Her work has been published in Second Life's REZ Magazine and in the physical world's The Fib Review. Shyla has an installation of her work on Ethnographia Island in Second Life.

What: Ability Strange Days Indeed!
Who: Coughran Mayo
When: May 14, 2:00 pm
Where: Sojourner Auditorium, Virtual Ability

• As with most everything else, the world-wide health crisis is having an impact on alcoholism and other drug addictions. Helping professionals are required to find new ways to reach people in need and deliver services. People are sheltering at home, but liquor stores are still considered “essential businesses” in many places, and sales of alcohol have increased dramatically. Mental health problems are accelerating and many will turn to drugs for relief. The economic impact on non-profit and for-profit treatment programs alike is profound, with experts predicting that 30 – 50% of the traditional treatment providers may not survive the next six months. The potentially large increase in the number of people showing signs of addiction as the crisis progresses, along with the likely reduction in resources available is setting up a crisis of dramatic proportion. What will the future bring?
• Dick Dillon is the man behind the avatar Coughran Mayo. Mr. Dillon has over 30 years of experience in organization management, working with both for-profit and non-profit behavioral health organizations. He is the founder of the Cox CARE Center and co-creator of the Web of Addictions site (one of the first websites to provide accurate information about addiction). As an executive at Preferred Family Healthcare, he created Avatar Assisted Therapy, in which therapeutic interventions are delivered in a virtual environment. He is now CEO of Innovaision LLC, a consulting firm for non-profits wishing to work in virtual worlds.

What: Mental Illness in Literature

Who: Gentle Heron and Draxtor Despres

When: May 15, 6:00 am

Where: Sojourner Auditorium, Virtual Ability

• Draxtor and Gentle, both avid readers, will discuss how mental illness has been portrayed in literature of all varieties. An amazing number of works of literature throughout history deal with various aspects of mental illness. A booklist of recommended readings will be provided.
• Draxtor Despres (Bernard Drax in the physical world) is a German filmmaker, composer, and host of the Second Life Book Club. His recent feature film “Our Digital Selves” documents embodiment and place-making for people with disabilities in virtual worlds. He has been documenting SL via short reportages as the Drax Files since early 2007 and is now a contractor for Linden Lab.
• Gentle Heron (Alice Krueger in the physical world) is President of Virtual Ability, Inc., which is the nonprofit that supports the Virtual Ability community in virtual worlds. She is a former educator and education researcher, sidelined by multiple sclerosis.

How do you relate to your avatar?

By Dr. Nicholas Bowman

Dr. Nicholas Bowman

Users of virtual environments interact with the environment and with other users through an avatar that is under their control. The avatar is distinct from, but related to, the user. This creates a complex relationship which the audience members at the Mental Health Symposium will be experiencing during the conference.

Dr. Nicholas Bowman will speak about this relationship from noon to 12:45pm Pacific, Friday April 26. The title of his talk is “How do I relate to me? The emotional demands of our online personae.”

Dr. Bowman is an associate professor at the Interaction Lab of the Department of Communication Studies, West Virginia University (US). He views entertainment technology as a place for learning and community discourse. He researches how communication technology such as video games and social media affects the way we interact.

Dr. Bowman will discuss different mechanisms by which users associate with and understand their on-screen avatars. These different mechanisms might have very different emotional components and outcomes. During the presentation, audience members will be asked to actively share their thoughts and experiences with their own avatars.

For more information about the Mental Health Symposium and the full schedule of sessions:

https://virtualability.org/mental-health-symposia/mental-health-symposium-2019/

Virtual Worlds Serve Military Mental Health Needs

By Dr. Kevin Holloway

Dr. Kevin Holloway

A Center for Deployment Psychology Training Facility

Members of the military, both veterans and those in service, and their family members deserve the most effective treatments for deployment- and combat-related PTSD, sleep disorders, depression and suicidal ideation. The Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD (US) has piloted virtual-worlds based training programs for mental health providers serving this population.

Dr. Kevin Holloway is the Director of Training and Education at the Center for Deployment Psychology. A licensed clinical psychologist, he is particularly interested in technology solutions, including using virtual worlds to improve access to and quality of professional training. Dr. Holloway’s presentation at the Mental Health Symposium, “Virtual World Training for Mental Health Providers,” will be held from 2-3:30pm Pacific on Friday April 26. He will discuss CDP's synchronous and asynchronous Second Life training models and environments, and preliminary outcomes data regarding effectiveness.

Following Q&A will be an opportunity for the audience to tour two of CDP’s Second Life facilities, the Snoozeum and Operation AVATAR. These sites augment live, instructor-led, virtual training workshops for mental health providers learning evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

For more information about the Mental Health Symposium and the full schedule of sessions:

https://virtualability.org/mental-health-symposia/mental-health-symposium-2019/

Video games, the pluses and minuses

By Dr. Michelle Colder Carras

Dr. Michelle Colder Carras

The Entertainment Software Association’s 2018 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry reports that over 150 million Americans play video games, 60% of them playing daily. Video game play has been shown to provide cognitive benefits, improving basic mental abilities such as attention and executive functioning.

However, there is also a negative side to video gaming. In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified “gaming disorder” in the 11th Revision of its International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).

Dr. Michelle Colder Carras’s presentation, titled “Video games, social interactions, and mental health: Benefits and problems,” will be the 1-1:45pm (Pacific time) session on Friday, April 26 at Virtual Ability’s annual Mental Health Symposium. Dr. Colder Carras is a public mental health researcher and informaticist who specializes in healthy and problematic media and technology use. Her most recent work has focused on how commercial video games can be useful for suicide prevention and improved mental health.

Dr. Colder Carras will discuss the importance of determining the context of game play in deciding if it is helpful or harmful. She will examine both online and offline social interactions by video gamers, and will discuss both potential therapeutic benefits and problematic issues related to gaming.

For more information about the Mental Health Symposium and the full schedule of sessions:

https://virtualability.org/mental-health-symposia/mental-health-symposium-2019/

Do teens know when they are bullied on social media?

By Dr. Taaha Shakir

Dr. Taaha Shakir

Teens spend a lot of time online, texting and digital messaging each other. Unfortunately, this high level of connectivity can lead to “potentially troubling and nonconsensual exchanges,” according to a recent Pew Research Center. This report states that 59% of US teens have been bullied or harassed online, mainly through name-calling and rumor-spreading. Schools offer lessons on how to handle being bullied. Out-of-school programs, such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, are equally concerned about the problem of bullying.

The final session of Virtual Ability’s 2019 Mental Health Symposium from 5-5:45pm Pacific time on Friday, April 26 will feature Dr. Taaha Shakir. His talk is titled “Do our adolescents know they are being bullied?” Dr. Shakir is a pediatric hospitalist at Edward Hospital, in Naperville, IL (US).

Dr. Shakir’s current research on the impact of social media on teens assesses the reasons for its negative effects. He fears that the healthcare community has not dealt well with the growth of technology that led to cyberbullying. The goal of his work is to create solutions that will improve teens’ ability to identify and work through stressors in their daily lives and that will assist healthcare providers to identify and support victims of cyberbullying.

For more information about the Mental Health Symposium and the full schedule of sessions:

https://virtualability.org/mental-health-symposia/mental-health-symposium-2019/

How does participation in a virtual world community help people cope with long term health conditions?

By Evelyn McElhinney Ph.D.

Evelyn McElhinney Ph.D.

Evelyn McElhinney Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University (Scotland). Her research interests lie in the area of emerging and immersive technologies for health and wellbeing. Her Ph.D. was conducted fully within Second Life and consisted of two studies – one investigating the health literacy skills and practices of people in the social virtual world and the influence on physical world behaviour, and the other investigated the importance of people and place to living and coping with long term conditions in the physical world. She has also taught nurse practitioners within Second Life.

How does participation in a virtual world community help people cope with long term health conditions?

This was the topic of Evelyn McElhinney’s Ph.D. research, conducted in Second Life. Now a Senior Lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University (Scotland), Dr. McElhinney conducted case studies, social network analyses and focus groups to determine the impact of virtual experiences on physical world behaviors. She also studied health literacy skills and practices within the social virtual world.

Dr. Evelyn McElhinney will present “The importance of positive health assets from participation in 3D social virtual world communities to living and coping with long term conditions in the physical world” at this year’s Mental Health Symposium. Her session will be held from 8:30-9:30am Pacific time on Friday, April 26.

For more information about the Mental Health Symposium and the full schedule of sessions:

https://virtualability.org/mental-health-symposia/mental-health-symposium-2019/

Are you constantly checking your smartphone?

by Fatemeh Rezaee

Fatemeh Rezaee

Deloitte’s U.S. edition of the 2018 Global Mobile Consumer Survey found that average Americans check their smartphones 52 times a day. Also, 39% of smartphone users believe they use them too much.

Monetizing people’s attention is the business model used by companies (e.g.,  Facebook, Google and Apple) to increase their profits by maximizing the length of time they are able to keep the attention of users. Attention engineers develop algorithms and designs that users hooked to their devices even when it is detrimental to their well-being. They exploit human psychology to create deliberate addiction and excessive user engagement.

Fatemeh Rezaee is a Ph.D. candidate at Seoul National University, South Korea. Her Mental Health Symposium presentation, titled “Designed Addiction,” will be offered from 4-5pm Pacific time on Friday, April 26.

The responses of smartphone companies to criticism of the addictive and obsessive effects on people using their products include adding features such as timers (to make users aware of the length of time they spend on their phones) and a a gray scale screen setting (to make them less appealing to use).

Ms. Rezaee feels these solutions have not been effective in addressing the problem of smartphone addiction. She proposes that this is because of a conflict of interest: reducing attention decreases companies’ profits.

For more information about the Mental Health Symposium and the full schedule of sessions:

https://virtualability.org/mental-health-symposia/mental-health-symposium-2019/