Avatar therapy can reduce schizophrenia symptoms

An experimental therapy involving a conversation between a schizophrenia patient and a computer-generated avatar representing the patient’s hallucinations reduces symptoms more efficiently than standard counselling, a trial published in The Lancet Psychiatry showed. Patients create a computerised representation of the entity they believe is the source of the main voice.

They also reported significant reductions in the frequency of voices and reduced distress at 12 weeks.