Editorial

'Cyber-shrink' has potential for rural areas

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Those of us who grew up with Tang and microchips are used to hearing stories about how technology developed for space effects our everyday life.

Now comes a new development that could have widespread impact, especially in rural areas like Southwest Nebraska where it is hard to provide some specialized services.

Call it a "cyber-shrink."

NASA assures us, however, that the computer program it is developing to help astronauts deal with depression is nothing like HAL, the computer that ran the ship in "2001: A Space Odyssey," and wound up trying to kill all of its crew.

Sponsored by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, the program, called the Virtual Space Station, will begin being tested in the Boston area next month.

The project uses a recorded video therapist to guide subjects through a widely-used depression therapy called "problem-solving treatment."

NASA intends the software for long-term missions like a flight to Mars, where transmission times stretch out to 40 minutes while the radio waves transverse 250 million miles.

It's not a hypothetical problem. Problems have developed with and between astronauts and cosmonauts, endangering missions.

One mission on a Russian space station had to be aborted after the commander decided to spend all of his time looking out the portholes.

For earthbound use, the program offers the potential advantage of lower cost and privacy for those who might not otherwise seek, or have access to, professional help.

Of course, a computer should never replace live, human interaction, and we'd hate to see agencies or other providers offering just a software program to people in need of serious counseling.

But in many cases, if the idea works out, it would certainly be better than nothing.

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