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Dental anxiety is prevalent among children, often leading to missed treatment and potential negative effects on their mental well-being. While several interventions (e.g., pharmacological and psychotherapeutic techniques) have been…
The growing demand for accessible mental health support, compounded by workforce shortages and logistical barriers, has led to increased interest in utilizing Large Language Models (LLMs) for scalable and real-time assistance. However,…
Social simulation is transforming traditional social science research by modeling human behavior through interactions between virtual individuals and their environments. With recent advances in large language models (LLMs), this approach…
The global mental health crisis is looming with a rapid increase in mental disorders, limited resources, and the social stigma of seeking treatment. As the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has witnessed significant advancements in…
Many people struggle with social anxiety, feeling fear, or even physically uncomfortable in social situations like talking to strangers. Exposure therapy, a clinical method that gradually and repeatedly exposes individuals to the source of…
Effective dementia caregiving requires training and adaptive communication, but assistive AI and robotics are constrained by a lack of context-rich, privacy-sensitive data on how people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias…
The objective of this study is to develop and use a virtual reality game as a tool to assess the effects of realistic stress on the behavioral and physiological responses of participants. The game is based on a popular Steam game called…
Mindfulness practice has many mental and physical well-being benefits. With the increased popularity of live stream technologies and the impact of COVID-19, many people have turned to live stream tools to participate in online meditation…
Large language models (LLMs) have been widely used for mental health support. However, current safety evaluations in this field are mostly limited to detecting whether LLMs output prohibited words in single-turn conversations, neglecting…
Many people suffer from mental health problems but not everyone seeks professional help or has access to mental health care. AI chatbots have increasingly become a go-to for individuals who either have mental disorders or simply want…
In this paper we explore the potential of utilizing Virtual Reality (VR) as a therapeutic tool for supporting individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, who often face elevated risks of mental health issues. Specifically, we investigated the…
Virtual environments are essential to AI agent research. Existing environments for LLM agent research typically focus on either physical task solving or social simulation, with the former oversimplifying agent individuality and social…
Recent advances in large language models (LLM) have enabled richer social simulations, allowing for the study of various social phenomena. However, most recent work has used a more omniscient perspective on these simulations (e.g., single…
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a widely used therapeutic method for guiding individuals toward restructuring their thinking patterns as a means of addressing anxiety, depression, and other challenges. We developed a large language…
Parental verbal abuse leaves lasting emotional impacts, yet current therapeutic approaches often lack immersive self-reflection opportunities. To address this, we developed a VR experience powered by LLMs to foster reflection on parental…
Employee well-being is a critical concern in the contemporary workplace, as highlighted by the American Psychological Association's 2021 report, indicating that 71% of employees experience stress or tension. This stress contributes…
Social robots have been used to assist with mental well-being in various ways such as to help children with autism improve on their social skills and executive functioning such as joint attention and bodily awareness. They are also used to…
Loneliness and stress are prevalent among young adults and are linked to significant psychological and health-related consequences. Social robots may offer a promising avenue for emotional support, especially when considering the ongoing…
Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as a promising tool for enhancing social skills and emotional well-being in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Through a technical exploration, this study employs a multiplayer serious gaming…
Mental health is a growing global concern, prompting interest in AI-driven solutions to expand access to psychosocial support. \emph{Peer support}, grounded in lived experience, offers a valuable complement to professional care. However,…