Computing Paradigms for Mental Health. 2nd International Workshop on Computing Paradigms for Mental Health - MindCare 2012

There is an increasing number of research initiatives that utilize modern technology in order to support patients in maintaining or regaining a healthy mental state. Advanced technological solutions have been exploited for treating depression, anxiety disorders, and for coping with stress. This is of utmost importance to provide people with higher quality of life and also to shift a part of monitoring tasks from therapists and caregivers to unobtrusive technological systems. Efforts have started with Internet-based self-help therapies, but recently systems make an increasing use of ambient intelligence, pervasive computing, smart phones and sensor systems. Their common goal is to provide effective solutions for maintaining and improving mental health. This workshop is held for the second year (following the first MindCare workshop organized as part of Pervasive Health Conference, Dublin, 2011) aiming to bring together researchers and practitioners from technological fields (such as computer science, artificial intelligence, and information systems) but also from medical and psychological disciplines that share the same interest of strengthening or maintaining mental health by exploiting pervasive computing solutions. The goal of MindCare workshop is to exchange ideas aiming to support synergy of the two domains for further progress in this field. The program of the workshop encompasses a total of 14 papers: 10 full papers, 2 short papers, and 2 posters, covering a range of topics and disciplines in the theme described above. We wish to thank all the authors for their admirable scientific works which reflect both the cutting edge technologies and the most prominent psychological approaches thus contributing to innovative ways of employing technology in favor of mental health. In order to establish such a high quality program, the papers underwent a rigorous reviewing process by a program committee that consisted of world renowned experts in the related fields. We are grateful for their efforts and their flexibility to work in a short time frame. We appreciate their great scientific level, professionalism, and above all their unrequested but most appreciated friendliness. Last but not least, we would like to send special thanks to all members of the INSTICC, especially Vera Coelho from the conference secretariat, whose cooperation made possible the success of this workshop. We hope that our workshop will afford a brainstorming platform to discuss very exiting themes of computing paradigms for mental health and moreover that it will leave nice memories of this event in the context of the wonderful Vilamoura.