Feeling Good During and After the COVID19 Epidemic

Virtual Therapeutics Can Help Us to Overcome the Psychological Burden and Negative Effects of our Daily Life

COVID FEEL GOOD is an easy self-help validated virtual therapy registered as Class 1 Medical Device (Code: 2436695 -EU Reg. 2017/745) that helps you to cope with the negative psychological effects of the pandemic (anxiety, depression and reduced social connectdness).

COVID FEEL GOOD is FREE, it requires a smartphone with the YouTube App and just TWENTY MINUTES everyday for a week

Experience the magic of COVID Feel Good in Spatial Video with Vision Pro!

Vision Pro is the ultimate device for immersive and interactive storytelling. With Vision Pro, you can explore the relaxing world of the Secret Garden, in a new way. Download the Secret Garden (English only) Spatial Video today and get ready to be amazed by Vision Pro!

It is the only multicultural virtual therapy available worldwide: you can experience it in English, Spanish and Argentinian, French, Brazilian/Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), German, Russian, Italian, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Farsi, Armenian, Romanian, Catalan, Hindi, Malayalam, Polish and Ukranian..

The Challenge: 

The Stress of Coronavirus

Living in the time of the coronavirus means experiencing not only a global health emergency but also extreme psychological stress that puts a strain on our identity and our relationships.  

Crucially, lockdown and confinement measures isolate people who become the first and the only ones in charge of their own mental health. 

People are left alone facing a novel and potentially lethal situation, and, at the same time, they need adaptive strategies to face it, at home. 

More, the coronavirus is forcing a significant portion of students and workers to reorganize their daily activities to accommodate the needs of distance learning and agile work (smart working). The daily use of these technologies has a significant impact on many identity and cognitive processes, including social and professional identity, leadership, intuition, mentoring, and creativity.

The Opportunity: 

An Easy and Free Solution

In this view, any strategy that aims to reduce the psychological burden of coronavirus is extremely necessary Crucially, easy-to-use, inexpensive, and scientifically validated self-help solutions could be the key.

COVID Feel Good is a weekly FREE social self-help virtual therapeutic experience, requiring just twenty minutes daily, helping you in relieving anxiety and stress and improving well-being and social connectedness.

A first effectiveness study with an Italian sample, a second one with a German sample and a third study with an Iranian sample were associated with significant clinical outcomes, low-to-no risks for the treatment, and no adverse effects or risks. 

Our international team is also completing a multicentric randomized clinical trial (ISRCTN63887521) whose European results are available here.

VR Video, Protocol and Instructions in your native language - English, Español, Français, 中文, Português do Brasil,  Deutsche, Italiano, 한국인, 日本語, فارسی‎,  हिन्दी, հայերեն, русский, Català, Română, Türkçe, Polska, മലയാള and український - are available below:

Чтобы немедленно начать чувствовать себя лучше, нажмите ЗДЕСЬ

If you are interested in translating the VR experience and the protocol CLICK HERE

Developed in 2021, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, its CLINICAL EFFICACY has been tested in different countries of the world:

The Clinical Efficacy

Our international team is running a multicentric randomized clinical trial (ISRCTN63887521) whose protocol has been recently described in Frontiers in Psychiatry - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.563319/full.

A first effectiveness study related to the Italian sample has been published in the "International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health". The participants exhibited clinically relevant improvements from baseline to post-intervention for depression levels, stress levels, general distress and perceived stress and social connectedness (all p < 0.05) that were maintained from post-intervention to the 2-week follow-up (p > 0.05).

A second effectiveness study related to the German sample, has been published in the "Journal of Clinical Medicine. As before results showed a significant decrease in general distress, depression, stress, and anxiety, that persisted for two weeks after participation

A third effectiveness randomized study related to the Iranian sample has been published in the "Journal of Clinical Medicine". Participants in the COVID Feel Good intervention group improved in depression, stress, anxiety, and perceived stress. Secondary outcome results showed an improvement in perceived social connectedness and a substantial decrease in fear of COVID-19.

The data related to the European part of the trial (Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Spain) was published in "Psychosomatic Medicine". Data show that "COVID Feel Good intervention was associated a decrease in the perceived general distress and with an increase the perceived social connection."

If you are interested in joining our multicentric trial please write to. giuseppe.riva @ unicatt.it

The Science: 

Using the Transformative Potential of Virtual Reality

The past 10 years have seen the development and maturation of several digital technologies that can have a critical role to enhancement of happiness and psychological well-being. In particular, the past decade has seen the emergence of a new paradigm: “Positive Technology,” the scientific and applied approach to the use of technology for improving the quality of our personal experience.

This VR protocol exploits the experiential power of our smartphones to feel you present in a digital place where you can relax and recover. In fact, what distinguishes VR from other media is the sense of "presence". The feeling of “being there” inside the virtual experience produced by the technology turns this technology into a powerful tool for supporting personal and clinical change.

More, as discussed recently by the Washington Post, different studies demonstrated that digital experiences of the natural world can impact health and well-being.

For more info about the rationale of using VR and the science behind the protocol you can check the different links provided.


All the contents available are distributed according to the following license: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Created by...

Prof. Giuseppe Riva 

Ph.D., M.S., M.A.

Cognitive Scientist, Full Professor of General Psychology and expert of Virtual Reality and Positive Technology.

Prof. Brenda K. Wiederhold

 Ph.D., MBA, BCB, BCN

Clinical Psychologist, Editor in Chief of the "CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking" Scientific Journal

The Italian company 

behind the VR experience

A company with the awareness of the benefits that a transformative experience can bring to people’s lives.

An International Team 

from all over the world

Psychologists and Psychotherapists, Neuroscientists, Technologists and Artists, Researchers and Storytellers.

The EFPA Awarding Committee selected Prof. Giuseppe Riva as the recipient of the Aristotle Prize for 2023

The Award Committee noted Giuseppe Riva's exceptional and internationally recognized contribution to psychology, his publication record, his dissemination of psychological knowledge at national and especially European conferences, and his overall advancement of the discipline and legacy to others.

COVID Feel Good was awarded the second place of the national award eHealth4All selecting the best digital solutions for improving health care

COVID Feel Good has been nominated as best national digital solution for the international Award WSA, selecting digital innovation with impact on society for the Category "Health & Well Being".

The development of COVID Feel Good was supported by the ideas and tools developed by the Affectech EU project