{"id":5641,"date":"2024-10-28T22:00:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/28\/digital-avatars-could-help-people-suffering-with-psychosis-stand-up-to-distressing-voices-and-find-peace-study-finds\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T22:00:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:00:32","slug":"digital-avatars-could-help-people-suffering-with-psychosis-stand-up-to-distressing-voices-and-find-peace-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/28\/digital-avatars-could-help-people-suffering-with-psychosis-stand-up-to-distressing-voices-and-find-peace-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital avatars could help people suffering with psychosis stand up to distressing voices and find peace, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>People who hear bullying or abusive voices could find peace with the help of therapy using computer-generated avatars, according to new research.<\/p>\n<p>The digital animations are created by people with psychosis to fit the voices they hear.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-site-outbrain sdc-site-outbrain--AR_6\">    <\/div>\n<p>They then role-play with the avatar under the guidance of a therapist, learning to push back against their tormentor.<\/p>\n<p>A study by clinical psychologists at Kings College London (KCL) shows just a few sessions of avatar therapy reduces both the distress and frequency of the voices.<\/p>\n<p>Ruth spent more than five years in hospital because of her illness.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--teads\">        <\/div>\n<p>But after therapy with an avatar that she created, she\u2019s now married and about to start a new job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I hear the voices, I hear them as if they\u2019re standing right behind me, hissing in my ear, making remarks,\u201d she told Sky News.<\/p>\n<p>She continued: \u201cSometimes they do a running commentary of everything I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd other times it\u2019s like they are screaming and yelling directly into my ear. It can be exhausting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I first started with the avatar it was pretty brutal at times, the stuff it would say.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut over time, I learned that I could overpower that voice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Face to face\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Therapy begins with people creating a digital avatar to represent the voices they hear.<\/p>\n<p>They first select the right vocal sound for the avatar.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in a process similar to building a police identikit image of a suspect, they choose facial features to create an image that fits the voice they hear.<\/p>\n<p>During therapy, they have a conversation with the avatar, which is under the control of a clinical psychologist, learning to stand up to the distressing voices.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Tom Ward, a clinical psychologist at KCL, said: \u201cIt\u2019s typically a very powerful experience for the person.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe voice is something that they might have been avoiding for many years, and they\u2019re coming face to face with it so people can be understandably anxious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe job of the therapist is to make sure that it feels safe enough for them to interact with the avatar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Extremely important finding\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A study on 345 people, funded by the Wellcome Trust and published in the journal Nature, showed avatar therapy helped to push the voices into the background, allowing them to resume a more normal life.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Philippa Garety, the lead researcher, said it was the first therapy shown to have a sustained impact on how often people hear voices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an extremely important finding,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHearing fewer voices, less often, or voices going away altogether can have a hugely positive impact on their day-to-day lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NICE, the authority that regulates treatments on the NHS, has backed the therapy.<\/p>\n<p>It will now be rolled out to clinics in England for more real-world testing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div>This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People who hear bullying or abusive voices could find peace with the help of therapy&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}