Abstract: Decoding mental states from brain activity and correlating emotional and cognitive states to psychobehavioral traits through continuous recording of biosignals are new avenues in monitoring and treating mental disorders.

The enormous distress and huge economic burden associated with mental disorders are plaguing modern society. In spite of these epidemiological and socio-economical emergencies psychologists and psychiatrists essentially rely on interviews, questionnaires, cognitive therapies and drugs to diagnose, monitor and treat patients. The impressive role of technology and instrumentation which is played nowadays in all medical specialities has left the psychic illness essentially untouched. Sure, not easy to heal the mind with machines. The minisymposium, the organizers propose is aimed at providing paradigmatic examples and critical examination of current activity in psychobehavioral monitoring , affective technology and virtual reality to monitor and treat mental disturbances such as autistic spectrum and bipolar disorders and phobias.