Globally, access to evidence-based psychological treatment is limited. Innovative self-help methods using smartphone applications and low-cost virtual reality have the potential to significantly improve the accessibility and scalability of psychological treatments. In the upcoming issue of JAMA Psychiatry we report on the effectiveness of ZeroPhobia, a fully self-guided app-based virtual reality cognitive behavior therapy (VR […]
Acrophobia, Fear of hights, Just published, Virtual reality
Gambling disorder is a public health issue in many countries, and expectations that the gambling industry protects individuals from harm are increasing. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effects of providing personalized feedback on gambling intensity among high consumers of venue-based and online gambling in Norway. A randomized controlled trial design […]
Behavioral feedback, motivational interviewing, Ny artikel, Prevention, Problem gambling, responsible gambling
Pre-commitment tools – allowing users of gambling services to pre-set a limit for how much money they may spend – are relatively common. However, there exist no clear evidence of their effectiveness in preventing gamblers from spending more money than they otherwise planned. The aim of the study was to compare gambling intensity between users […]
Consumer protection, Deposit limit, Natural gambling environment, Online gambling, Pre-commitment, Problem gambling, responsible gambling
Are you interested in doing a PhD in psychology at Stockholm University (Sweden)? It is a 4 year commitment that includes reading advanced courses and doing empirical studies together with our research group. The salary is around 2500 Euros (or 3500 USD) a month. I would love to be your supervisor so do not hesitate […]
Available jobs, PhD
Responsible gambling (RG) tools, aiming at helping gamblers to avoid gambling-related harms, are common in online gambling platforms. Gambling industry, policy makers, and researchers have warned that RG tools can potentially disturb recreational gamblers, channeling them to less protective operators. No evidence exists to support these concerns, and they can hinder the development of effective […]
Attitudes, Consumer protection, Just published, Online gambling, Problem gambling, Recreational gamblers, responsible gambling
Today we got a paper accepted in Frontiers in Psychology entitled “The potential of consumer-targeted Virtual Reality relaxation applications: Descriptive usage, uptake and application performance statistics for a first-generation application”. Virtual Reality (VR) technology can be used to create immersive environments that promote relaxation and distraction, yet it is only with the recent advent of consumer […]
Just published, Ny artikel, Virtual reality
Internet interventions, and in particular Internet‐delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT), have existed for at least 20 years. In a new paper, that was just published in World Psychiarty (impact factor = 30!), we review the treatment approach and the evidence base, arguing that ICBT can be viewed as a vehicle for innovation. ICBT has been developed and tested […]
Internet Interventions, Just published, Review
Today a special issue was published in Journal of Anxiety disorders. A total of 11 papers are included and we are involved in four of those. The most longed for paper is probably the updated version of the classic meta-analysis by Emmelkamp and Powers published in 2008. Trials of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) for […]
Anxiety, Just published, meta-analysis, Virtual reality
Spider phobia is a common and impairing mental disorder, yet little is known about what characteristics of spiders that spider phobic individuals find frightening. Using screening data from a clinical trial, we explored which characteristics that spider‐fearful individuals (n = 194) rated as having the greatest impact on fear, used factor analysis to group specific characteristics, and […]
Ny artikel, Specific phobia, Spider
In 2016 I was invited to have a keynote at the Asia Mental Health Conference (see the colorful poster below!). There was a large interest in the subject and researchers from the Hong Kong Baptist University suggested that we apply for funding. Today we got word that the research proposal was successful. We will develop […]
Depression, Hong Kong, ICBT
