Over 10 years ago, CyberTherapy (CT) began as a half-day symposium held as part of the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference, featuring presentations that dealt mainly with conceptual matters and future possibilities. CT has grown over the years in size and scientific scope, evolving into an independent 5-day conference, highlighting the largest program assembled on controlled clinical trials of virtual reality (VR) and advanced interactive technologies in the areas of mental health, rehabilitation, disabilities, training, and education. The quality and significance of research presented at CT reaffirms the significant role of VR in healthcare. CT '05 will be held in Basel, Switzerland, from June 6-10, 2005, integrating achievements of the past year in technology and medicine to address a variety of healthcare problems, and to facilitate progress in areas ranging from education to healthier living. CT emphasizes the synthesis of interactive technologies for diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of addictions, pain, neurophysiologic deficits, anxiety disorders, obesity, and co-morbid substance abuse and mental health disorders. CT also investigates advanced technologies in rehabilitation, health promotion, disease prevention, and quality of life. Specialized panels lay plans for the future of training, education, and other related technology topics, including objective measurements of physiological variables during VR. Past CT Conferences have attracted speakers from 19 different countries, and this number is expected to rise in coming years. We seek input from a broad segment of the scientific community, and are eager to attract experts in drug abuse, neurosciences, mental health, cognitive and social sciences, education, and training, as well as hardware and software developers. We also continue to focus on interdisciplinary research into cutting-edge technologies, such as shared virtual worlds, avatars, neuroanatomic measures, video game VR, augmented reality, adaptive displays, robotics, and force feed back methods. To better quantify the VR experience, peripheral physiological measurements and non-invasive brain imaging (e.g., fMRI, PET) are becoming standard for researchers seeking greater insight into the VR experience. Additional CT funding is being sought from Army Research Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, European Union, Hanyang University, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers, Naval Research Lab, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, and Universite du Quebec en Outaouais.
