title: Computer tool to evaluate the cue reactivity of chemically dependent individuals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Anxiety is one of the major influences on the dropout of relapse and treatment of substance abuse treatment. Chemically dependent individuals need (CDI) to be aware of their emotional state in situations of risk during their treatment. Many patients do not agree with the diagnosis of the therapist when considering them vulnerable to environmental stimuli related to drugs. This research presents a cue reactivity detection tool based on a device acquiring physiological signals connected to personal computer. Depending on the variations of the emotional state of the drug addict, alteration of the physiological signals will be detected by the computer tool (CT) which will modify the displayed virtual sets without intervention of the therapist.
  
  
  METHODS
  Developed in 3ds Max® software, the CT is composed of scenarios and objects that are in the habit of marijuana and cocaine dependent individual's daily life. The interaction with the environment is accomplished using a Human-Computer Interface (HCI) that converts incoming physiological signals indicating anxiety state into commands that change the scenes. Anxiety was characterized by the average variability from cardiac and respiratory rate of 30 volunteers submitted stress environment situations. To evaluate the effectiveness of cue reactivity a total of 50 volunteers who were marijuana, cocaine or both dependent were accompanied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prior to CT, the results demonstrated a poor correlation between the therapists' predictions and those of the chemically dependent individuals. After exposure to the CT, there was a significant increase of 73% in awareness of the risks of relapse.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We confirmed the hypothesis that the CT, controlled only by physiological signals, increases the perception of vulnerability to risk situations of individuals with dependence on marijuana, cocaine or both.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, Av. Hygino Muzzi Filho 737, Marília, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: meire@marilia.unesp.br.
authors.forename: Meire Luci da
authors.initials: MLD
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Universidade Braz Cubas, Av. Francisco Rodrigues Filho 1233, Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: af.slaets@uol.com.br.
authors.forename: Annie France
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Frère
authors.affiliation: Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes, Núcleo de Pesquisas Tecnológicas, Av. Dr. Cândido Xavier de Almeida e Souza 200, Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: quintino@umc.br.
authors.forename: Henrique Jesus Quintino de
authors.initials: HJQ
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes, Núcleo de Pesquisas Tecnológicas, Av. Dr. Cândido Xavier de Almeida e Souza 200, Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: heliomn@umc.br.
authors.forename: Helio
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Martucci Neto
authors.affiliation: Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes, Núcleo de Pesquisas Tecnológicas, Av. Dr. Cândido Xavier de Almeida e Souza 200, Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: terigi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Terigi Augusto
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Scardovelli
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D012008:Recurrence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Anxiety; Chemically dependent; Computer tool; Cue reactivity