A new study has found therapy using digital avatars to have a reductive effect on symptoms of psychosis, particularly in patients who hear voices. With 345 participants from diverse UK centers for this study, it may be said that such new technology has a potential for relief in some respect from the troubling symptom of hearing voices characteristic of psychosis.
The therapy has been named AVATAR therapy where the patient uses a computer-generated avatar for assistance in relating with their voice. Participants use a therapist to develop an avatar that represents the voice that they hear. The sessions are done with a therapist who speaks both as himself and through the avatar using software that simulates the voice’s tone and characteristics in question.
Researchers compared the effects of treatment received with six sessions vs. 12 sessions of AVATAR therapy combined with standard care to those who received only standard treatment. Published in Nature, the results showed both treatment groups experienced important reductions in frequency and distress reported due to auditory hallucinations. The follow-up at 16 weeks showed both treatment groups receiving less distress than the control group. Most impressively, by week 28, those who had received 12 sessions showed a significant reduction in the number of voices heard.
According to Philippa Garety, lead author of the study, a professor at King’s College London: This is the first therapeutic intervention shown to directly and consistently reduce the frequency with which patients hear voices. Nick used to be one of them, hearing as much as 50 voices a day, but he reported a dramatic improvement by the end of the treatment – instead of fifty voices, below five.
Even with these promising results, others say that the study did not compare AVATAR therapy with other treatment options. Consultant psychiatrist Alberto Ortiz Lobo, who is not involved in the study, said he did not know whether the therapy would last in the long run: “The effect is seen at 16 weeks but was no longer present at 28 weeks.”
Researchers have intended to increase the application of AVATAR therapy and have remained optimistic about the likely inclusion in NHS Trusts as early as 2025.
