Technological advancements have been substantially influencing medical sciences, enabling their accelerated development. The goal is to advance the knowledge about health problems, improve diagnosis and afford higher quality of life for people. For mental disorders this afforded a number of benefits related to the continuous state assessment, evaluation of the effectiveness of therapy and medication, self-treatment support and much more. In addition, pervasive computing solutions can provide new concepts in supporting patients to maintain or regain a healthy mental state. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental disorders have a major negative impact on economy and on the quality of life of individuals and their families. Apart from the treatment, special emphasis should be put on the prevention of healthy subjects aiming to their cognitive well-being.

This special issue focuses on the exploitation of technology in favor of cognitive and emotional well-being, including, but not limited to, the following topics:

• ICT-based approaches for monitoring psychological and cognitive status
• Innovative interventions for improving depressive behavior
• Technological tools as a support for individuals exposed to high levels of stress
• Investigating the influence of environmental factors on emotional status
• Unobtrusive tracking of long-term cognitive changes
• Automatic mood recognition
• Employing Bio and Activity sensors to monitor mental health
• Virtual reality approaches for therapy
• Biofeedback in stress management


Important Dates

Manuscripts due: May 20, 2012
Acceptance Notification: July 2, 2012
Final manuscripts due: July 16, 2012


What to submit:

Original unpublished contributions are solicited that can improve the knowledge and practice in the field. Tutorial and survey articles of permanent reference value are also welcome. Submissions must be original and should not have been published, or submitted for publication, elsewhere.

How to submit:

To submit a paper to the journal, submit a manuscript of your work, limited to 8 pages, through the e-SCRIPTS portal: http://escripts.icst.org/publication/ambient-systems