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Depressed Astronauts Might Get Computerized Solace
alphadogg writes "Clinical tests on a four-year, $1.74 million project for NASA, called the Virtual Space Station, are expected to begin in the Boston area by next month. The effort is designed to address the onset of depression in astronauts while they are in outer space. In the project, sponsored by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, a recorded video therapist guides astronauts through a widely used depression therapy called 'problem-solving treatment.'" Here's a related story from a few weeks ago. Those astronauts got it rough.
Depression is not always about something. That's the thing. Sometimes people just feel like total shit without there being a clear reason for it.
Depends on the dog. Some are real working breeds, as most herder dogs, like the Border Collies, some are bred as guard dogs. If they don't do those jobs they can get pretty neurotic, rounding up little kids in the neighborhood or not letting anyone near the property they're on.
Some dogs just become anxiety ridden when left alone and tear into the furniture, bedding. whatever to relieve themselves.
You might even find the term "Prozac Puppies" on the Wiki.
As regards the astronauts, think again about what kind of job they're facing, maybe on a trip to Mars. 3 or 4 years in close proximity to the same small set of people, no privacy, pretty much every moment programmed for you, in a small capsule where you don't even have the luxury of floating on a sea surface in an atmosphere waiting to see if someone can rescue if something goes wrong. This isn't Buck Rogers astronauts, this is Kon Tiki astronauts.
They have plenty to get depressed about.
As a depression patient I can say long-term space travel includes basically all the known triggers to depression - stress, isolation, sleep deprivation, lack of sunlight. And there's problem-solving steps you can do to migigate each of these.
The standard treatment for depression is medicine AND therapy. There might be room on board for a bottle of Lexapro but not for Counselor Troi. So that's the aspect they're working on. I don't see anything outdated about what they're doing.