Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine 2011. Advanced Technologies in Behavioral, Social and Neurosciences

The field of cybertherapy is becoming more widely accepted and implemented worldwide. The advantages that tele-health and mobile health have to offer, such as more readily accessible medical records, reliable user-friendly health advice on demand and patient-centric care are undeniable, and have resulted in exciting advances in how the needs of patients and caregivers alike are addressed. Better educated patients are becoming more responsible and proactive, taking charge of their own health and adopting and adhering to healthier lifestyle choices, and the goal of a healthy population and more efficient and effective healthcare becomes more attainable each day. This book presents contributions from researchers and practitioners in the field of cybertherapy which not only illustrate the progress made in treating a variety of disorders, but also identify the challenges still faced in this field; such as the development of easy to use and more affordable hardware and software as well as the need to address potential side-effects and implement more controlled evaluation of cybertherapies as compared to more traditional treatments. The book, which will be of interest to health professionals and patients alike, is divided into four sections: Critical Reviews contains summaries and evaluations of emerging cyber therapy topics; Evaluation Studies includes chapters which undertake to solve some specific practical problems and assess the value of cybertherapy interventions; Original Research addresses new cybertherapy methods or approaches; finally, Clinical Observations explores case studies and research protocols with long-term potential.