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Long read in the Guardian on avatar therapy for #hearingvoices. Avatar therapy uses software to create an animated avatar representing a distressing voice to bring a tangible experience of the voice into the therapy session (thread) theguardian.com/news/2024/oct/…

The Guardian article follows publication of the AVATAR2 trial in Nature Medicine. This found that 7-session and 13-session forms of avatar therapy both led to reductions in voice-related distress and overall voice severity post-therapy (v TAU) /2 nature.com/articles/s4159…

Coinciding with this, our Danish collaborators have just published a preprint of the CHALLENGE trial, which also found avatar therapy, delivered in immersive VR, was effective vs supportive counselling doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.… (not yet peer reviewed) /4

In both trials, effect sizes were not quite as large as in the original AVATAR trial, seeming similar to standard therapy for voices. It is important to consider advantages avatar therapy has over standard therapy. This is what our trial AMETHYST is doing /5

AMETHYST, our current trial of avatar therapy vs current best practice therapy for #hearingvoices, is still enrolling participants across Australia. All participants receive therapy via telehealth. Visit voicestherapy.com for details, to express interest, or refer. /6 end

NEW PAPER! Excellent work led by Rachel Frost - systematic review and meta-analysis of associations between trauma-related beliefs and psychosis symptoms. Findings support targeting trauma-related meanings in therapy to reduce distress. Olivia Collier King's DClinPsy