Interactive Journal of Medical Research
A new general medical journal for the 21st century, focusing on innovation in health and medical research.
Editor-in-Chief:
Taiane de Azevedo Cardoso, BSc, MSc, PhD, Affiliate Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine, Deakin University, Australia; Scientific Editor, JMIR Publications, Canada
Impact Factor 1.9
Recent Articles
Depression is a prevalent global mental health disorder with substantial individual and societal impact. Natural language processing (NLP), a branch of artificial intelligence, offers the potential for improving depression screening by extracting meaningful information from textual data, but there are challenges and ethical considerations.
Health locus of control (HLOC) is a theory that describes how individuals perceive different forces that influence their lives. The concept of a locus of control can affect an individual’s likelihood to commit to behaviors related to their health. This study explores the literature on the relationships between HLOC and medical behavioral interventions.
The psychological well-being of astronauts is becoming just as vital as their physical and technical readiness as space missions extend into deep space. Long-duration missions pose unique challenges, such as isolation, confinement, communication delays, and microgravity, which can significantly affect mental health and cognitive performance. This commentary discusses the need for innovative mental health support systems, including automated psychotherapy, as well as Earth-based training methods like mindfulness and relaxation techniques, to address the psychological demands of space travel. By integrating these approaches into pre-mission preparation and in-flight routines, astronauts can develop self-regulation strategies to manage stress, improve focus, and enhance emotional resilience. Automated psychotherapy available 24-7 provides real-time confidential support when communication with Earth is delayed. As space exploration moves forward, the success of missions will depend not only on technological advancements but also on the development of psychological countermeasures that prioritize mental health alongside physical well-being. This paper emphasizes the importance of continued research and collaboration to refine and test these tools in analog environments, ensuring astronauts are mentally and emotionally prepared for the challenges of space.
Various behavioral and mental health issues have been reported by space crews for decades, with the overall number of mental health complications expected to be higher than is publicly known. The broad range of mental health complications encountered in space is expected to grow as people venture deeper into space. Issues with privacy, dual relationships, and delayed communications make rendering effective psychological therapy difficult in a spaceflight environment and nearly impossible in deep space. Automated psychotherapy offers a way to provide psychotherapy to astronauts both in deep space and low Earth orbit. Although automated psychotherapy is growing in popularity on Earth, little is known about its efficacy in space. This viewpoint serves to highlight the knowns and unknowns regarding this treatment modality for future deep space missions, and places an emphasis on the need for further research into the applicability and practicality of automated psychotherapy for the spaceflight environment, especially as it relates to long-duration, deep space missions.
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