"Never before have sexual and emotional relationships played such a key role in people's psychological well-being"

Psychological therapy is no longer as stigmatized as it used to be, and indeed, it is now something that is part of many people's everyday lives, not only when they have a mental health problem, but also to improve their psychological well-being. The Intervention in Clinical and Health Psychology and Promotion of Well-Being (IPCSPB) group at the UOC's Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences investigates how to improve the quality and personalization of psychotherapy and psychological interventions. As part of this objective, they are also carrying out research with technologies including virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
Adrián Montesano, the group's UOC coordinator, and the Spanish coordinator of the renowned International Society for Psychotherapy Research, tells us about his group's work in this interview, as well as the breakthroughs that technology is bringing to psychology and to psychotherapy in particular.
Why are you interested in the field of psychological therapy?
It's vocational. My parents were healthcare professionals, and these kinds of values and professional services have always been part of my life. As time passed, I specialized in psychotherapy to an increasing extent. Supporting people during processes of change is a task that is as complex as it is fascinating. And this profession contributes to one of the most important values of Western society: health and well-being. When I started my psychology degree, psychotherapy was already a science, but it was in its infancy, and a lot of work had yet to be done. Thanks to the work done by several pioneers, we have come a long way since then, and we have a great deal of scientific data and platforms for doing further research.
What are the objectives of the IPCSPB research group?
The members of the IPCSPB are a varied group of professionals who work together to improve the quality of psychological interventions, for both mental health and health in general. We have three main goals. First, integrating digital technologies in psychological interventions, so for example, we have several virtual reality projects, one artificial intelligence project, and one that combines the two technologies. Second, participating in European projects. And third, transferring our work to clinical practice as well as the other way around, or in other words, obtaining evidence from clinical practice. So we work with both professionals and users of health services.
Sex and couples therapy is one of the areas your research focuses on, and is a field in which many changes are taking place.
Never before in history have sexual and emotional relationships played such a key role in people's psychological well-being. That means as an area, it is a priority. Moreover, the research needs to be ongoing, as the type of sexual and emotional relationships that are possible and the rules governing them appear to be changing in each generation. And they have never changed as much as they are doing now, thanks mainly to the feminist movements, so we have to be aware of these changes, and constantly keep ourselves up to date.
What research lines do you think your group has made the most progress in recently?
In validating high-quality psychological interventions for a wide variety of problems, in both mental health, such as for anxiety, depression and psychosis, and in physical health, for fibromyalgia or cancer, for example. Our research group has been very strong in this field, because we have had consecutive funding for undertaking clinical trials for more than a decade, and we have validated protocols and intervention manuals to transfer them to professionals. We have also worked directly with the users of the mental health network. Our objectives include influencing the decisions made by the authorities by means of dissemination, transferring results and open science.
One of your most important projects focuses on preventing sexual victimization.
I currently have three funded projects under way. The most recent one, which is on the largest scale, consists of a psychological intervention enhanced with virtual reality, REVISE, which aims to prevent sexual victimization in women, and which is being funded by the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science until 2027. The intervention is aimed at couples and the objective is to readdress gender schemas, especially among men. We use very advanced virtual reality techniques, such as embodiment – swapping identities – which is useful for enhancing cutting-edge psychological interventions.
In another project we have developed a proof of concept of a virtual reality application in which couples exchanged their identity in order to enhance their empathy and resolve disagreements.
Finally, our project for the UOC's eHealth Center (eHC) Proof of Concept programme aims to improve health professionals' training using virtual reality powered by conversational AI engines. It will enable professionals to practice with responsive and controlled simulated patients, at varying levels of difficulty.
What is the advantage of applying artificial intelligence in this environment?
This is a personalized virtual reality environment in which digital avatars will simulate being patients, and they will be able to have real-time conversations with the clinicians, so that they can practice without having to work with real patients. We can use this technology to generate therapeutic conversations that can be used to train future psychologists and other clinicians in dealing with difficult situations with patients.
What have been your achievements to date?
The IPCSPB has become a Spanish benchmark in psychotherapy research and fostering psychological well-being. We have validated several cutting-edge psychological treatments for various problems, and we have had an impact on society at both the political level and in terms of technology transfer and training manuals for psychotherapists. We are currently growing and diversifying our lines, and we hope to increase our participation and impact at a European level.
What collaborations does your group have with other institutions, and what do they contribute?
We are a large group with strong links to both Spanish and international organizations. In fact, practically all of our funded projects have international involvement. We have links with researchers from all over the world, and we often take part in international conferences and decision-making committees. Collaboration and plurality are the concepts that act as the cornerstones of our group. We also constantly collaborate with voluntary sector institutions to make culturally adapted cutting-edge treatments available to people.
Press contact
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Sònia Armengou