By watch avatar that represent their hallucinations on a covert , patients suffering from schizophrenic disorder are betterable to deal out with their symptoms . The scientists who created the new form of therapy hope that it could add a new property to existing technique helping patient deal with the voice in their heads .
While it is not true that every undivided person who suffers from schizophrenia experience hallucinations of voice in their head , this symptom does affect between60 and 70 per centum of patients . These experience are often disturb as the voices can be insulting and lowering . ceremonious treatment with counseling and drugs can make out these hallucinations , but for around 25 per centum of sufferers they either do n’t go away or return . The new incarnation therapy can help these patients .
To create the avatar , the researchers sat down with 150 people who have experienced tenacious and pitiful audile delusion for more than a yr despite intervention , andcrafted each one individually . The patients were able to select the face shape , tegument tone , and even eyebrow heaviness that substantially matched with the voice that they were pick up . They were then capable to modify the tone and pitch of the interpreter itself to sync up with what was in their head .
From this , the patient would then sit down with a therapist who would speak to them both through the avatar and as themselves in a three - manner conversation . This appropriate the patient to face the voices that they were hearing in a visual way , while the healer ensured that they got the upper hand over the hallucinations .
This was an important aspect , according to the researcher , as it give the patients the self-confidence to fend up to the avatars themselves . This , however , is not something that all patient can cope with , as some find the experience too distressing . But for those who were able to face their inner voice , it seemed to help .
“ Our sketch provide other grounds that avatar therapy rapidly improves auditive hallucinations for people with dementia praecox , reducing their relative frequency and how disturbing they are , compare to a type of counselling,”saidProfessor Tom Craig , who led the study published inThe Lancet Psychiatry . “ So far , these improvements seem to last for up to six months for these patient . ”
This study has only been carried out on a handful of patients at one clinic , but the results bet promising . The researchers now want to expand it and see if the outcomes observed hold .
