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Avatarotherapy is a promising treatment for schizophrenia
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Treating auditory hallucinations in schizophrenic patients has become possible thanks to computer avatars. The successful implementation of the latest, effective method belongs to researchers at University College London.
With the help of avatars, scientists were able to completely subdue the most common phenomenon in schizophrenia - voice hallucinations. Sixteen patients were subjected to the study, with whom they worked daily for half an hour. After a therapeutic course of seven sessions, improvements were noted in all subjects. The "voices" left three subjects forever, in the rest - the auditory hallucinations weakened, their appearances became rare, as a result, the painful impact on consciousness also decreased. Moreover, the patients suffered from the disease for different periods (from 3 to 16 years).
The essence of the therapy is the individual selection of the face and voice of the avatar for each patient from the position of maximum trust. Computer technologies synchronize the facial expressions of the lips with speech, which allows the doctor to contact the patient through the image, helping to resist the "voices" and control painful manifestations.
Patients accept the virtual personality as a real one. The fact that they themselves chose its appearance and speech gives patients a feeling of confidence, complete trust, the ability to fully control and be protected. As a rule, the "voices" in the head cause fear in the schizophrenic, since they arise spontaneously and try, as the patient believes, to harm him and his loved ones. An avatar is an effective way to reject someone else's hostile will and completely free oneself from harmful influence.
Avatar therapy sessions are recorded and, if necessary, provided to the patient. Such a reminder allows for a trusting attitude towards medical recommendations in cases of renewed vocal hallucinations. In this case, fear is projected onto a familiar and kind avatar, which completely eliminates the problem.
The latest discovery has interested many doctors. After all, until now, getting rid of auditory hallucinations with the most effective antipsychotic drugs did not give lasting results. It should be noted that drug treatment does not completely cope with the problem of "voices". The combination of pharmacological achievements and cognitive-behavioral methods brought success in one case out of ten. And drugs have a lot of side effects that undermine physical health.
At the moment, the authors of the new treatment technology are preparing a global clinical trial. The experiment will be conducted in a number of psychiatric clinics, where specially trained personnel will test avatar therapy on a hundred randomly selected patients. The results are scheduled for 2015.
Doctors are placing great hope in these studies, because there is still no effective treatment for schizophrenia, which affects one in a hundred people. It should be noted that the disease is one of the common causes of disability (it causes paralysis, blindness, paraplegia, dementia).
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