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'Avatar Therapy' Shows Promise in Treatment of Schizophrenia

by Reuters

   LONDON --

   An experimental therapy for people with schizophrenia that brings them
   face to face with a computer avatar representing the tormenting voices
   in their heads has proved promising in early trials.

   Scientists who conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing the
   avatar therapy to a form of supportive counseling found that after 12
   weeks, the avatars were more effective at reducing auditory
   hallucinations, or voices inside the head.

   More research is needed to investigate the approach in other health
   care settings, so the therapy is not yet widely available.

   But if further trials prove successful, experts said, avatar therapy
   could "radically change" treatment approaches for millions of psychosis
   sufferers across the world.

   Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that affects about one in 100
   people worldwide. Its most common symptoms are delusions and auditory
   hallucinations.

   These voices are typically insulting, tormenting and threatening,
   causing much distress and anxiety in patients. Drug treatments can
   reduce symptoms in most patients, but about one in four continue to be
   affected by hallucinations.

   This study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, involved 150 patients
   in Britain who had had schizophrenia for about 20 years and who had
   been experiencing persistent and distressing auditory hallucinations
   for more than a year.

   Of these, 75 were given avatar therapy and 75 had a form of supportive
   counseling. They all continued with their usual antipsychotic
   medication throughout the trial.

   Weekly sessions

   The avatar therapy was given in 50-minute sessions delivered once a
   week over six weeks. Before starting treatment, patients worked with a
   therapist to create a computerized simulation, or avatar, of the voice
   they most wanted to quiet -- including what the voice said, how it
   sounded and how it might look.

   Tom Craig, a professor who led the study at Britain's Maudsley Hospital
   and King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology &
   Neuroscience, said the results provided "early evidence that avatar
   therapy rapidly improves auditory hallucinations."

   "So far, these improvements appear to last for up to six months for
   these patients," he said. "However ... more research is needed to
   optimize the way the treatment is delivered and demonstrate that it is
   effective in other ... settings."

   Ann Mills-Duggan, a expert from the Wellcome Trust health charity,
   which funded the trial, said the results were very encouraging: "If the
   researchers can show that this therapy can be delivered effectively by
   different therapists in different locations, this approach could
   radically change how millions of psychosis sufferers are treated across
   the world."