AWE Nite Firenze

Augmented and Virtual Psychology: the video of the event

AWE Nite Florence, on Thursday 25 March, presented one of the most interesting trending topics in the Augmented and Virtual Reality field: “Psychology”.
Three important speakers, also known abroad for their innovative researches, took part in this extraordinary event: Giuseppe Riva, Luca Bernardelli and Simone Barbato.

The third appointment of AWE Nite Florence attracted Psychology Professionals from Italy, but also met with great interest internationally. The audience that followed the live broadcast of the event on Thursday did not leave the event until the last minute of the debate. The event ended with a delay of a few minutes, but the interest was so great that we could have continued for a long time…

The event’s characters

Professionals Giuseppe Riva, Luca Bernardelli, Simone Barbato, who took part in the event, hosted by Cecilia Lascialfari and Antony Vitillo, showed us an interesting point of the use of Augmented and Virtual Reality in the field of Mental Health. You’ll find their speeches in the video by clicking on:

  • 0:00:00​​ – Opening presentation from AWE
  • 0:00:12​​​ – CECILIA LASCIALFARI – Welcome & Presentation
  • 0:02:46​​​ – ANTONY VITILLO – Presentation
  • 0:03:31​​​ – CECILIA LASCIALFARI presents GIUSEPPE RIVA
  • 0:04:30​​ – GIUSEPPE RIVA speech: “Virtual Reality for the Treatment of Eating Disorders“
  • 0:17:30​​​ – CECILIA LASCIALFARI presents SIMONE BARBATO
  • 0:18:06​ – SIMONE BARBATO speech: “Virtual Reality and Mental Health: the Italian case of the startup company IDEGO“
  • 0:32:59​​​ – ANTONY VITILLO presents LUCA BERNARDELLI
  • 0:34:31​​​ – LUCA BERNARDELLI speech: “Augmented Psychology: a new paradigm for mental health professionals”
  • 0:49:25​​ – Debate ANTONY VITILLO – Question to GIUSEPPE RIVA
  • 0:51:06​​​ – GIUSEPPE RIVA – Answer
  • 0:53:41 – ANTONY VITILLO – Question to GIUSEPPE RIVA
  • 0:54:18​ – GIUSEPPE RIVA – Answer
  • 0:55:57​​ – ANTONY VITILLO – Question to SIMONE BARBATO
  • 0:56:27​​​ – SIMONE BARBATO – Answer
  • 0:59:18​​​ – ANTONY VITILLO – Question to LUCA BERNARDELLI
  • 0:59:47​​​ – LUCA BERNARDELLI – Answer
  • 1:05:36​ – ANTONY VITILLO – Greetings
  • 1:05:58​​ – Closing and greetings CECILIA LASCIALFARI
  • 1:06:12​​ – ZOOM CHAT!

“Virtual Reality for the Treatment of Eating Disorders“ – Giuseppe Riva

Giuseppe Riva talked about Psychological Treatment with VR, the potential of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for Enhancing Personale and Clinical Change, showed us how Virtual Reality works with Cognitive Technology, and he explained to us how can we improve treatment of Eating Disorders… but not only this.
If you missed his speech, you can see it in the video starting from min. 0:04:30​ – GIUSEPPE RIVA: “Virtual Reality for the Treatment of Eating Disorders“. And again to the minutes 0:51:06​​ and 0:54:18 you can still listen to part of his speech.

“Over the last 25 years, I explored the use of VR for assessing and treating eating disorders. In general, existing findings demonstrate the clinical value of virtual reality for reducing food cravings, improving multisensory integration and body image, enhancing emotion regulation skills and correct attentional biases. The presentation will summarize the existing results in these areas, the different levels of clinical evidence and future research topics.” – Giuseppe Riva

Giuseppe Riva - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

GIUSEPPE RIVA Ph.D. | (www.giusepperiva.com) is Full Professor of Communication Psychology and New Media Psychology at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy where is the Director of the “Humane Technology Lab” that is exploring and promoting the “humane” side of technology. Riva is also Director of the Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Laboratory (ATN-P Lab.) at the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy, that promotes the use of advanced technologies – from virtual reality to AI and robotics – for improving health care assessment and treatment.

Virtual Reality and Mental Health: the italian case of the startup company IDEGO“ – Simone Barbato

The speech of Simone Barbato, showed the vision, barriers to entry, numbers and prospects of this new business which aims to make VR technologies increasingly accessible to mental health professionals. In Italy and in Europe there is still no large-scale development of these technologies for commercial purposes aimed at the general public.

Simone Barbato talked about how IDEGO provides mental health professionals with virtual reality software and hardware and scientifically based guidelines for their use, making virtual therapy more accessible and effective. Simone also explained how IDEGO offers the market “VR Masterclasses”, training sessions for applied digital psychology. The VR Masterclass provides professionals with a solution that combines training sessions with VR hardware / software, session content and all necessary protocols. To date, IDEGO has generated over € 200,000 from the digital psychology market over the past two years.

If you missed his speech, you can see it in the video starting from min. 0:18:06​ – SIMONE BARBATO speech: “Virtual Reality and Mental Health: the Italian case of the startup company IDEGO“. And again to the minutes 0:56:27​​ you can still listen to part of his speech.

Simone Barbato - Idego

SIMONE BARBATO is a Clinical and Digital Psychologist. Research collaborator at Cassino University where he teaches Mental Training in a II level University Master Degree. Author of “Finestre sul futuro. Fondamenti di Psicologia Digitale”. Cyber Psychology expert for Amazon Prime Video in Celebrity Hunted. Co-founder of IDEGO Srl.
IDEGO Srl is a Limited Liability Company, established on 18th January 2016, which deals with hosting and provision of application services in the medical-health field, in particular regarding Mental Well-being, Psychology and Psychotherapy. IDEGO is also working in the field of Artificial Intelligence: the company was awarded a loan of 500.000,00 euros for the implementation of a conversational agent designed for the mental health sector.

Augmented Psychology: a new paradigm for mental health professionals – Luca Bernardelli

During his speech Luca Bernardelli has explained how BECOME conceived and promotes the paradigm of psychological augmentation, using proprietary tools and protocols. Among these, the trans-theoretic method known as “Augmented Psychology®”, usable – through a specific app – only to certified professionals, in addition to self-help VR experiences including the one used by “Covidfeelgood” protocol, which boasts prestigious scientific collaborations and over 10 countries involved in its validation.

If you missed his speech, you can see it in the video starting from min. 0:34:31​ – LUCA BERNARDELLI: “Augmented Psychology: a new paradigm for Mental Health Professionals”. And again to the minutes 0:59:47​​ you can still listen to part of his speech.

Luca Bernardelli - Become.

LUCA BERNARDELLI is a psychologist focused on the study of psychotechnologies and technopathologies. He’s co-founder and CEO of “BECOME. Augmented Life”, a SME specialized in Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality solutions supporting psychotherapy, empowerment, relaxation and active learning. He’s co-author and trainer of the psychological method “Augmented Psychology®”.

He’s co-founder of “BOWMAN- Data Matter ”, a software company owner of “EXPANDA®” and “ALGORILLA®” Big Data-based platforms. He conceived “Personal Dreamer”, a meeting place for memorable and transformative experiences, visited over time by millions of people. Recently, he was the opening speaker at “First European Conference on Digital Psychology” and he implemented for Giunti Psychometrics the digital training session “From Telepsychology to New Psychotechnologies”.
He’s a member of the Faculty of Psychology Steering Committee of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan.

Debate Moderator Antony Vitillo

Antony Vitillo held an interesting debate with the three speakers.
If you missed his speech, you can see it in the video starting from min. 0:49:25​.​ And again to the minutes 0:02:46​​, 0:53:41​, 0:55:57​​, 0:59:18​, 1:05:36.

Antony Vitillo - NTW

Debate moderator ANTONY VITILLO | Co-Founder The Ghost Howls | Co-FounderNew Technology Walker | Co-Organizers AWE Nite Florence

Welcome & Introduction” and “Closing and greetings

Welcome & Introduction was curated by Cecilia Lascialfari, who remembered how much Psychology is connected to the city of Florence, due to the famous “Stendhal Syndrome“.

In 1817 the French writer Hènrì Stendhal fainted from too much beauty, at the sight of the Niccolini Chapel, in Santa Croce, in Florence. Like Stendhal, many tourists suffered from the same ailment visiting Florence’s works of art. Many years later, Psychiatrist Graziella Magherini identified and analyzed this symptoms and associated them with Psycho-Somatic Disorder. This symptomatology took the name of “Stendhal Syndrome”. This means that in front of works of art of considerable beauty, people feel widespread malaise. Could Virtual Reality maybe help those suffering from this disorder?

If you missed his speech, you can see it in the video starting from min. 0:00:12​ and the Closing and greetings at minute 1:05:58​​

Cecilia Lascialfari - ARea6DoF

CECILIA LASCIALFARI | Co-Founder ARea6DoF | Creative Strategist Technologist | Event Coordinator AWE Nite Florence

The ZOOM Chat…

At AWE Nite Florence, we like to talk to the public. And our “chats” work great… they’re always very active!
This allows people to ask questions and receive excellent answers as in the case of the Zoom chat of this event in which many links and newspaper articles are cited. We invite you to watch the discussion from the minute 1:06:12 of the video.

The ZOOM chat

You can find more information on this event at this Augmented and Virtual Psychology

AWE Nite Florence presents 
“Location Based VR & Entertainment in Italy

AWE Nite Florence

The next AWE Nite Florence, will be held on April 29th at 5 pm. (CEST) and the Virtual Reality will be the focus, and will address theme such as VR entertainment, VR gaming, VR sports, VR theme Parks, Virtual Simulators (for flight, for the guide… etc.)
The pandemic has forced us to remain closed within the walls of our homes, but Virtual Reality has given us the opportunity to escape to places far away from us, while remaining in front of the computer.

Are there VR simulators in Italy? Who produces them? How are they used? Are there any theme parks for VR in Italy? Where are? What are the best VR games? Can you play sports with VR?

We will talk about this and much more in the next meeting, with speakers of the highest level, who will be presented shortly. For information about this event, register on Meetup at this link: “AWE Nite Florence presents Location Based VR & Entertainment in Italy”

We are waiting for you!

For more information on AWE:

AWE XR GLOBAL: AWE NITE GLOBAL
Info: AWE NITE FLORENCE

Sign up in Meetup: AWE Nite Florence

Cecilia Lascialfari
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