MedTrace Logo

Virtual Reality Avatar Therapy for People Hearing Voices

NCT04099940 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 100

Last updated 2023-09-28

No results posted yet for this study

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

BEHAVIORAL

Virtual Reality Avatar Therapy (VRAT)

The Virtual Reality Avatar Therapy (VRAT) is a Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, delivered through Virtual Reality.

BEHAVIORAL

Assertiveness Training Program (ATP)

The Assertiveness Training Program (ATP) is a Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, delivered as group therapy.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Psychiatric University Hospital, Zurich

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-07-01
Primary Completion
2025-05-30
Completion
2025-12-31

Countries

  • Switzerland

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04099940 on ClinicalTrials.gov