NCT03585127

Avatar Therapy in Comparison to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Treatment-resistant Schizophrenia

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Study to Compare Avatar Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Patients With Treatment-resistant Schizophrenia.

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 74 (actual)
• Sponsor: Ciusss de L'Est de l'Île de Montréal · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Schizophrenia is associated with long-lasting health, social and financial burden for patients, families, caregivers and society. Unfortunately, 25-30% of schizophrenia patients respond poorly to antipsychotic medication. Moreover, psychotherapeutic treatment alternatives are very limited for this suffering population. This unmet clinical need requires innovation and action. Psychotherapeutic treatment alternatives such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) provide at best moderate results. Using immersive virtual reality, we recently tested a novel psychotherapeutic intervention, Avatar Therapy (AT), where the therapist engages in a dialogue with the patient through a virtual representation of the patient's distressing voice. This approach, being both relational and experiential, provides a unique opportunity to aid patients gain control over their voice. The results of our pilot study on AT were clinically promising for the severity and distress related to hallucinations, positive symptomatology and emotion regulation. To further research in this field, the primary goal of this randomized-controlled, single-site parallel study is to show that AT is superior to CBT for the treatment of persistent auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. Our secondary goal is to examine the effects of these interventions on emotion regulation, mood symptoms (anxiety and depression), self-esteem, level of functioning and quality of life.

Conditions

• Auditory Hallucination, Verbal
• Treatment-resistant Schizophrenia

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Cognitive Behavioral Therapy	Participants will be offered 9 individual and weekly sessions of 1 hour, which will be administered in an individual format by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis (CBTp). The program is derived and adapted from current evidence-based treatments for hallucinations. The 9 CBTp sessions will consist of a succession of learning modules and suggested task assignments.
BEHAVIORAL	Avatar Therapy	Participants will be offered 9 individual and weekly sessions of 1 hour, which will be administered in an individual format by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist experienced with psychosis patients. The therapy will consist in prompting participants to enter in a dialogue with their persecutor to better regulate their emotional responses. Over the course of the therapy, the avatar's speech and tone will gradually be changed by the therapist to echo participants' improved ability to regulate their emotions. That is, the avatar will progressively change from being abusive to becoming helpful and supportive. By doing so, the therapy will seek to reinforce participants' feeling of empowerment over their voices.

Timeline

• Start date: 2017-03-01
• Primary completion: 2020-03-31
• Completion: 2020-07-01
• First posted: 2018-07-12
• Last updated: 2020-07-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada