Explore Your Meanings: Virtual Reality to Revolutionize Psychological Therapies
Can you imagine being able to see your self-image with a pair of virtual reality or 3D glasses? Mind and Identity, a new spin-off of the University of Barcelona, has developed a new digital tool that enables the visualization of the mental image that individuals have of themselves and the people around them. The company, which relies on the RECORD©UB technology developed by the research group led by Dr. Guillem Feixas, will market the Explore Your Meanings (EYME) digital platform. This innovative digital tool works on the basis of an automated interview —accessible from any device with Internet connection— in which users are asked about significant people in their environment. The results can then be shown in 3D format or visualized with virtual reality glasses to achieve a totally immersive experience that generates much more intense emotions in the user than words could.
If applied to the field of psychology, this technology can improve therapeutic approaches. According to Dr. Feixas, who is also a professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the UB, “it encourages self-exploration and the exploration of others, which is an essential part of many therapeutic processes. Furthermore, it allows us to introduce changes depending on the patient’s own objectives”.
Explore Your Meanings is also adapted to the needs of coaches, business consultants, and market research agencies and helps them identify the attitudes, perceptions, and value systems of individuals and teams. The objectives of applying technology to these fields are improving the relationship between the members of a work team, enhancing leadership tools and systematizing consumer perceptions about different products in order to optimize the quality of market analyses.
Montse Sánchez Povedano, the founder of the Institute of Eating Disorders (ITA) and a professional with extensive business experience in the field of clinical psychology, will be the CEO of Mind and Identity. In addition, thanks to the Mentor in Residence grant from the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, the project team has been able to rely for several months on the advice of Patricia Fernández Carrelo, an expert in marketing and product development, who has helped to define the strategy and business plan of the spin-off, among other things.