Avatars are in?

It seems that whilst some people are striving to find new pills for those with mental health problems to take there are at least some who are looking at more novel ways to approach treatment. This new therapy written up in the British journal of Psychiatry has shown that the use of computer generated avatars to represent a voice that is abusive as a tool in therapy to aid patients with schizophrenia in controlling their symptoms is particularly welcome as many respond poorly to the medication as reported in the article. 

1 in 4 patients with schizophrenia responds poorly to antipsychotic medication, continuing to hear persecutory auditory hallucinations.

And with an estimated 400,000 people affected by schizophrenia in England alone (as reported in the guardian) alternatives to drug treatments are a welcome advance for many.

For a more in depth look at what this proof of concept study was all about please read this free article in the Nursing Times. It details much of what was achieved and how it was done.

As a proof of concept this is a very interesting study that brings a very novel approach to something that is both extremely distressing and devastating to the sufferer.

This therapy is effectively tapping into the feelings of hopelessness and giving the person concerned a way of expressing it and then the ability to feel more in control by standing up to the ‘voice’.

It takes the insubstantial and abusive voice and gives it form for the patient to focus on and then with careful guidance a way for the patient to stand up to the voice and then to see it give in to them and change into something more positive. And all this can be done in real time with the therapist also able to communicate with the patient. With the sessions recorded the patient also had a reminder forever after as well.

As an idea/ a concept it’s wonderful in it’s simplicity and all because it was noticed

 that studies say that patients who talk to their voice tend to feel more in control.

There are obviously difficulties with it as not least the amount of fear the patient feels for the voice. Of the people who completed the trial

Compared with the usual care group, the avatar therapy group showed significantly greater improvement at the end of treatment in:

the frequency of their hallucinations

the disturbing qualities of their hallucinations

delusions about their hallucinations

which is all good news. The down side of course is that this is a concept and although well done it has some rather large limitations as the researchers did discuss. Not least the fact that there were only 26 starting the project and of those assigned to the therapy (14), 5 dropped out so it’s all very hypothetical.

And engaging with any kind of therapy is a difficult and very scary process that will undoubtedly cause many to walk away without having gained very much. However the results are promising and I will be very interested to see the outcome of the next set of trials where the numbers will be increased, however I sincerely doubt that it will be anywhere it will be available as fast as

Professor Thomas Craig of the King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, who will lead the larger trial is reported to say

’... If we show that this treatment is effective, we expect it could be widely available in the UK within just a couple of years as the basic technology is well developed and many mental health professionals already have the basic therapy skills that are needed to deliver it.’ in the guardian.’  

But it certainly feels like a giant step forward in thinking especially for those who have been bemoaning the problems seen with treating people with medications alone.