Project objectives     The main goal of the project is to prove the technical and clinical viability of using portable and shared Virtual Reality systems in clinical psychology. The project will provide both innovative VR based tools for the treatment of patients, clinical trials to verify their viability and action plans for dissemination of its results.The selected disorders are: panic disorder, social phobia and agoraphobia; obesity, bulimia and binge-eating disorders; male impotence and premature ejaculation.To reach this goal in 1999 different US government institutions funded the research in this area with 22 million US$ vs. less that 2 million Euros from EU institutions. In this sense the project, joining the major European players in the field aims at creating a sufficient critical mass to make the EU-based research more competitive.   Brief description of the project       VEPSY will reach its goals by: a) designing/tuning and developing 4 VRMS clinical modules to be used with the Virtual Reality Modular System (VRMS) defined by two successful 4FP EC funded projects. The selected disorders are: - panic disorder and agoraphobia; - male impotence and premature ejaculation; - obesity, bulimia and binge-eating disorders; - social phobia. To ensure the broadest user base, the developed modules will be available both as shared telemedicine tools available through Internet by using a plug-in for the most common browsers (Explorer and Navigator) and as portable tools based on Speed-Step notebook PCs.   This choice ensures low costs, wide availability, an open architecture and the possibility of benefiting from the improvements planned for these machine by INTEL and AMD, mainly faster processors and enhanced multimedia support.   b) Defining new treatment protocols for the use of the clinical modules in     assessment and therapy. In doing this the project will follow a User Centered Strategy where feedback from individual users (and from groups representing users) will play a key role in driving the design and implementation process. c) Testing their efficacy at a scale of operation representing reality. In particular the project plans a 9-month Demonstration phase involving no less than 30 patients and a 15-month Validation phase involving no less than 240 patients from at least two different EC countries. d) Disseminating the obtained results to Extended Audience. Both clinicians and end users will be reached.      Project Milestones and expected results     Key milestones are: a) development of the prototypes; b) end of small-scale clinical trials; c) development of the clinical modules; d) end of large-scale clinical trials; e) tuning. Anticipated deliverables are: improved methods to prevent, diagnose and treat major mental/psychological illnesses; more competitive VR-based technological products and services for coping with major disturbances and for promoting the quality of life, autonomy and social integration of psycho-pathological patients.