Claire She was 10 years old when she started hearing voices. They tormented her, called her names and told her to harm herself.
she says Helen Pitt About the experience of psychosis, where reality is disrupted by hallucinations and delusions. She struggled to receive effective treatment for decades until she enrolled in a digital avatar therapy clinical trial.
“The principle is to sit down with your therapist and design your avatar,” says the journalist Jenny Kleeman I tell Helen. This allows clinicians and patients to “realize the voices people hear in their heads and experience them as real, external voices.”
“The therapist is in one room, the patient is in the other room, and the therapist can observe the patient in the other room through a webcam,” Jenny explains. “Therapists play two roles. On the one hand, they are therapists who use their voice to guide and support their patients, but with the click of a mouse they become the voice of an avatar.”
The patient then communicates with and eventually challenges the digital avatar. Claire was in her early 50s when she enrolled in the trial.
“The first session lasted only about five minutes, but something changed when I responded. The voice was telling me to stop taking the medication. And I said, ‘ Well, it’s not a good idea to just quit.” And he said, “Who said that?” And I said, “Well, guys, really, everyone else too.” And obviously, That was a big step forward. I never talked back to him like that. And it just kind of grew from there, really. ”
Within about eight weeks of the sessions, the voices Claire was hearing completely disappeared.
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