People all use more or less adapted strategies to confront adverse emotional situations in their lives without being psychologically affected. The emotional regulation (ER) strategies that we use determine the way in which we feel, express, and behave. Moreover, ER strategies are particularly important in adolescents, a population for which ER strategy deficits can be linked to the appearance of numerous mental health disorders, such as depression or anxiety, or disruptive behaviors. Thus, the early detection of dysfunctional ER strategies and training in adaptive ER strategies can help prevent future occurrences of possible behavioral and psychosocial disorders. In this article, the authors present the GameTeen System (GT-System), a novel instrument based on virtual reality and serious games for the assessment and training of ER strategies in adolescents. The results of their preliminary evaluation suggest that this system can effectively train and evaluate emotional regulation strategies in adolescents.

We all have an irrational fear or two. Some of us get scared by an unexpected visit from a spider in our house; others get nervous when they look down from a high building. Fear is an evolutionary and adaptive function that can promote self-preservation and help us deal with the feared object or situation. However, when this state becomes excessive, it might develop into psychological disorders such as phobias, producing high anxiety and affecting everyday life. The Therapeutic Lamp is an interactive projection-based augmented-reality system for treating small-animal phobias. It aims to increase patient-therapist communication, promote more natural interaction, and improve the patient's engagement in the therapy.