Patients with schizophrenia often experience verbal auditory hallucinations - about 65% of them hear voices in their heads. These voices are generally angry, negative and often downright hostile. And while some are helped by current therapies, a sizable portion of the patients do not get enough relief with treatment. To help these patients, a groundbreaking therapy was devised by UK researchers that has patients creating digital avatars to serve as visual representations of the voices in their heads.
Audio Visual Assisted Therapy Aid for Refractory or AVATAR therapy helps a patient create the voice known as the “persecutor”, matching the pitch and tone of the voice in their head. As a patient has dialogue with this avatar, controlled by a therapist, he or she is able to overcome the domination of the voice. This happens as the therapist makes the avatar start to gradually relinquish control back to the patient.
“You’re rubbish. You’re rubbish. You’re a waste of space,” were the kinds of phrases the avatar would say to the patient. But the patient would be encouraged to be more resolute in any dealings with the avatar, telling them to “go away”. The doctor-controlled avatar would in turn become less aggressive and eventually praise the patient.
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I know very little about schizophrenia and not much about hearing voices which are not linked to this disorder so I cannot pass judgement on the value of this new therapy. However, anything which helps someone control the aggressive voices has to be a good thing, no?
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