About Us [EN]

The Platform for Robotics/Robotherapy and Virtual Reality Therapy – The PsyTech-MATRIX PLATFORM – is the state of the art research, academic and services infrastructure at the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy / International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health at the Babes-Bolyai University, Romania. It is a part of the “Star-Gate Psy” Project to seek out new technologies to improve and develop human mind and human potential.

It incorporates a Center for Robotics/Robotherapy and Virtual Reality Therapy, which has five top Laboratories, all equiped with the latest technology, supported mainly by the national and international grants of Professor, Ph.D., Daniel David:
(1) ”Stress Control” Lab. (set up based on the collaboration with Virtually Better, USA);
(2) ”Virtual Classrom” Lab. (set up based on the collaboration with Institute for Creative Technology, USA);
(3) ”Pain Control” Lab. (set up based on the collaboration with Imprintit, USA);
(4) ”Data” Lab. (mainly related to Robotherapy);
(5) ”Star Trek –Holodeck” Lab. (set up in collaboration with Eon Reality, USA).

The most complex component is Star Trek –Holodeck Laboratory (briefly described as follows)

Financial support: National Agency for Scientific Research (ANCS); Contract number 68CP/I, from 14 September 2007 (“Capacităţi” Program, Module I)

Specifications of the equipment: CAVE type virtual reality system, Flexible Eon Reality ICube (four walls, active stereo projection, native resolution 1400X1050); for further details see http://www.eonreality.com. Equipment for olfactory stimulation in VR (EnviroScent-ScentPalette). Integrated Biopac system for psychophysiological measurements (MP 150).

Contact: Professor PhD Daniel David (danieldavid@psychology.ro); Researcher  David Opriş (davidopris@psychology.ro; Phone. 0040742037147)

Access requirements: For research – based on a collaboration agreement, by (a) co-financing, (b) direct payment of the time spent in the laboratory; (c) no fee (in case of a consortium in which we are partners/coordinators). For clinical services – based on a collaboration agreement: (a) no fee for the “Babes-Bolyai - PsyTech Psychological Clinic” and (b) by the payment of a negotiable percent from for the fee of the psychological services.

Services offered: (a) research; (b) clinical services (“Babes-Bolyai - PsyTech Psychological Clinic”)

 

 

 

 

The activitities of the PsyTech-MATRIX Platform are integrated with our Platform for the Advanced Imagining - fMRI/EEG -in Clinical Cognitive Sciences, to generate new frontier research, and with our “Babes-Bolyai - PsyTech” Psychological Clinic, to generate innovative psychological services.

The PsyTech-MATRIX Platform is directed by Professor Daniel David. Those interested in our ongoing projects and/or in collaborating with us for research, academic, or services purposes, please contact David Opris, MA, by e-mail: davidopris@psychology.ro, mail: David Opris, MA, Babes-Bolyai University, Republicii St. No. 37, 400015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, or phone: + 40742037147.

 

International Comments and Release Press:

• EON Reality Supports Leading Innovation in Psychotherapy at the BBU University in Romania

IRVINE, CA — 01/08/10 — EON Reality, the world’s leading interactive 3D software provider, supports the Babes-Bolyai University (BBU), in Cluj-Napoca, Romania with an immersive EON Icube environment for a virtual reality therapy project. Babes-Bolyai University is the largest university in Romania, one of the most influential in Eastern and Central Europe, and it was ranked on the first place in research among the Romanian Universities in 2009 by the National Council for Scientific Research in Higher Education.

An advanced research platform developed at the Babes-Bolyai University, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy in Romania, is innovating psychotherapy with virtual reality technology. The PsyTech-MATRIX Platform is the first one in Romania and one of the most advanced systems in the world, building on “state of the art technology” and combining significant psychotherapeutic methods.

Professor Daniel David, a specialist on virtual reality therapy at the BBU, is the director of the ambitious “Star-Gate Psy” project. He has been conducting treatment and research for various symptoms such as anxiety, phobias, depression, and ADHD. “Virtual reality therapy has a lot of advantages in respect to control, safety, precise measurements, time reducing, and sometimes even cost-effectiveness, compared to traditional psychotherapy methods. Virtual techniques can be incorporated in any know form of psychotherapy, from cognitive-behavioral to psychodynamic and humanistic-existential,” said Daniel David.

“An immersive virtual reality environment is as close as it can be to a real environment. It allows us to get accurate results and control the information that the client receives in a natural setting. In a marginal performance, this type of treatment is very helpful as it facilitates us to look into more complex processes, integration and understanding of psychotherapy processes. Moreover, target behaviors and cognitions will rise in virtual environments, and we can work on that,” stated David Opris, one of the research team members.

A full installation of the Icube interactive 3D system, supplied by EON Reality, has taken place in the new building called AVALON (Advanced Virtual Application Laboratories of Napocensis), as a part of the “Star-Gate Psy” project, based on a grant from the Romanian National Authority for Research Government.

For further information:

Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy / International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health — http://www.psychotherapy.ro

Babes-Bolyai University — http://www.ubbcluj.ro

EON Reality — www.eonreality.com

For more information contact:
Brita Kjallstrom
Email Contact
(949) 460-2000 ext 224

 

 

 

 

• Virtual Reality Therapy Innovates ADHD treatment

Innovative Virtual Reality therapy promises great success for treatment and rehabilitation of ADHD symptom.

By applying techniques used in cognitive behaviour therapy into an immersive virtual environment, researchers at the Babes-Bolyai University, in Romania has developed a program that promises great success for ADHD treatment.

Professor Daniel David, a specialist on virtual reality therapy at the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Babes-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, has together with a team of researchers developed a new concept for  a “Virtual Classroom Intervention” system for ADHD.

Previously, the “Virtual Classroom” systems for ADHD were mainly focused on assessment rather than interventions. It is the first program for ADHD treatment that allows clinicians to use Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) techniques in an immersive, dynamic 3D environment where interaction, behavioural tracking and performance recording is possible.

An initial testing implemented by researchers David Opris, Raluca Anton, & Anca Dobrean, involving eight boys diagnosed with ADHD (6-12 years of age) and 10 non diagnosed boys, suggested that the “Virtual Classroom Intervention” system provides a cost-effective and time reducing tool for attention performance measurements and treatment, beyond the existing traditional methods.

“The ability to implement the CBT techniques designed for a real classroom in a virtual one, combined with the possibility of improved control, safety, measurements, time reducing, makes this application a very innovative one”, Professor Daniel David says. “One of the main advantages of this new program is that the procedure is highly accurate and requires a significantly shorter time compared to using a traditional approach”, David Opris adds.

The “Virtual Classroom Intervention” system for ADHD” is a collaboration project between the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, San Diego, California, USA, Digital Mediaworks, Canada and the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy / International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health at the Babes-Bolyai University, Romania.