Clinical Trials Directory

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UnknownNCT04099940

Virtual Reality Avatar Therapy for People Hearing Voices

Status
Unknown
Phase
N/A
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
100 (estimated)
Sponsor
Psychiatric University Hospital, Zurich · Academic / Other
Sex
All
Age
18 Years – 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
Not accepted

Summary

Hearing voices is probably the worst form of acoustic hallucinations; which can be experienced as severely disturbing and is influenced by diverse factors including the ability of the individual to influence and control the hallucinatory experience itself. In recent years virtual reality has become a treatment option. In the so-called AVATAR Therapy, patients with schizophrenia and acoustic hallucinations design a visual and auditory recreation (avatar) of the entity to which they attribute their hallucinations. Working with a therapist over the course of several sessions, participants change the avatar from controlling to benevolent. Avatar Therapy involves similar processes to learning and cognitive restructuring, comparable to other psychotherapeutic interventions. The investigators plan to conduct an interventional study using a cross-over design, to compare the feasibility and efficacy of virtual reality avatar therapy for patients with acoustic hallucinations (independent of psychiatric diagnosis) with a cognitive behavioural group therapy aimed to improve social competence.

Conditions

Interventions

TypeNameDescription
BEHAVIORALVirtual Reality Avatar Therapy (VRAT)The Virtual Reality Avatar Therapy (VRAT) is a Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, delivered through Virtual Reality.
BEHAVIORALAssertiveness Training Program (ATP)The Assertiveness Training Program (ATP) is a Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, delivered as group therapy.

Timeline

Start date
2021-07-01
Primary completion
2025-05-30
Completion
2025-12-31
First posted
2019-09-23
Last updated
2023-09-28

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Switzerland

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04099940. Inclusion in this directory is not an endorsement.