We are making progress with the SyMptOMS platform to be part of clinical experimentation!

SyMptOMS is aimed to be a configurable and extensible mobile sensor- and wearable-based platform that allows therapists to define and configure momentary ecological assessments and interventions, which are delivered on the patient’s smartphone. The platform itself is configurable with respect to data collection, analysis and visualization, and allows timely intervention actions to be specified based on captured data and data analysis results.

This time, GEOTEC and LABPSITEC researchers joined again to conduct a study that uses location-based technologies and mobile computing during a treatment of a 47-year-old patient with agoraphobia. The psychological approach to the treatment was cognitive behavioural therapy, including a component of in vivo exposure to feared situations. In this publication in Clinical Case Studies , the acceptability and usability of the SyMptOMS platform along with the location-based smartphone app were assessed.

The abstract is:

Panic disorder (PD) is quite prevalent and often appears along with agoraphobia (PD/A). The treatment of choice is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Transdiagnostic intervention, an emotion-focused, cognitive behavioral intervention that has led to the Unified Protocol (UP), emphasizes the common underlying mechanisms that contribute to the development and maintenance of emotional disorders such as PD/A. A core feature of this treatment approach is in vivo exposure (IVE) to feared situations, which aims to prevent avoidance behaviors and encourages the patient to confront feared situations gradually. It is a difficult component for patients, especially when implementing the exposure on their own. Different feedback formats can be used to increase adequate IVE and reduce overt or subtle avoidance. The use of smartphones is a very useful option to initiate and sustain exposure behavior. The purpose of this study is to describe the use of location-based technologies (LBTs) during the IVE component of the UP treatment of a 47-year-old patient with PD/A. The acceptability and usability of the system were assessed. The Symptoms platform was employed during the exposure module, using LBT with a smartphone app. The patient reported positive expectations, high satisfaction scores, and an overall satisfactory experience. Enhancing key therapeutic components during treatment through the development of media-based tools is a very promising future research aim, and the possibility of using advanced smartphone features should be explored.

Cite it as:

Miralles I, Granell C, García-Palacios A, Castilla D, González-Pérez A, Sven Casteleyn S, Bretón-López J (2020) Enhancing In Vivo Exposure in the Treatment of Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia Using Location-Based Technologies: A Case Study. Clinical Case Studies, 19(2):145-159. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534650119892900