'Virtual Space Station' Helps Astronauts Handle Pressures Of The Job

Unless you live in Manhattan or Hollywood, visiting a therapist is usually not something you're proud of. For many people, the stigma appears enough to prevent them from getting help when they really need it. But soon, thanks to NASA, access to an automated, virtual therapist may be as close... and as private... as your personal computer.

One of latest technologies developed to deal with the problems of space travel is virtual therapy. The Associated Press reports NASA will spend $1.74 million dollars on a project called the Virtual Space Station, providing astronauts on long missions help in dealing with the stresses that come with the job.

And despite the romantic notion of being in space, those stresses are considerable. Think about the stress you feel at your job. Now, imagine one mistake could cost the lives of you and your co-workers, you're living with those co-workers in a very confined space, and you can't step outside your cramped office for weeks or months. You're floating weightlessly, and sunrise and sunset come every 90 minutes, scrambling your body clock.

And alas, you can't talk by radio to a real therapist on a mission to Mars... because if you're 250-million miles from earth, a radio signal takes 22 minutes to travel each way.

NASA assures us the new program is not some real-life version of HAL, the computer that rebelled against its imperfect human crew in "2001: A Space Odyssey." This project, sponsored by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, features a recorded video therapist who helps astronauts identify reasons for their depression, and develop a plan to fight it.

Twenty-nine current and former astronauts have provided input in the program's development.

Depression has not been common in space travel to date, but stress-related anxieties have reportedly compromised two Russian missions. One was chronicled by Valentin Lebedev in the book, "Diary of a Cosmonaut." He wrote, "We don't understand what's going on with us. We silently walk by each other, feeling offended. We have to find some way to make things better."

There's no word yet on how real therapists feel about having their profession automated. If every resident of a remote rural area can get this kind of help on his computer, will anyone still drive into the big city and pay 200 bucks an hour?

And, in a similar vein... has Dr. Phil just found an entirely new medium?

FMI: www.nasa.gov