Randomized Trial of Virtual Reality Therapy to Reduce Distressing Voice Hearing in Psychiatric Disorders

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are investigating a new virtual reality treatment called VR-VOICES for people who hear distressing voices auditory verbal hallucinations related to psychiatric disorders. These hallucinations often cause significant distress and disability, and current psychological treatments have limited effectiveness. This trial aims to evaluate how VR-VOICES affects the severity and frequency of these voices, clinical symptoms, quality of life, and healthcare costs. The study is a single-blind randomized controlled trial comparing VR-VOICES plus treatment as usual TAU against TAU alone. VR-VOICES includes 7 to 10 individual therapy sessions lasting 45 to 60 minutes, plus two booster sessions, where patients and therapists create a virtual avatar representing the voice that bothers them most. Patients engage in dialogues with this avatar, which becomes less hostile over time as they build resilience. TAU involves usual care such as medication, counseling, and psychological therapies like CBT. Participants will be assessed at the start, during some VR sessions, after 12 weeks, and at 6 months follow-up. Researchers will collect data on voice severity, beliefs about voices, anxiety, distress, impact on daily life, clinical symptoms, costs, and quality of life through questionnaires, diaries, and interviews. The main measure is the severity of hallucinations at 3 months. The study will involve 112 patients aged 16 or older with persistent distressing voices and psychiatric diagnoses.

Virtual Reality Therapy for Voice Hearing (VR-VOICES): a Randomized Controlled Trial