This past Wednesday our class ventured to the Museum of
Science, London to see the “Mind Maps” exhibit; a travel back in time through
the history of Psychology, beginning in the year 1780. There were some very fascinating parts of
this exhibit, from one of the very first PET machines to a dried frog in a silk
bag which was worn around a person's neck to prevent fits and seizures. One piece of recent, ongoing work that really
caught our eye was titled “Avatar Therapy”.
An upcoming study at King’s College
London Institute of Psychiatry plans on furthering the research to support a
potentially groundbreaking treatment for schizophrenic patients. Developed by Julian Leff, a professor at the
UCL Mental Health Sciences, a new avatar system has been designed to help
patients literally come face to face with their auditory hallucinations. Patients assign different characteristics to
their online avatar in order to “confront their persecutor”, in a way. The process begins by choosing the face and
voice of whom they believe is talking to them.
From here, the therapist is able to interact with the patient through
the avatar. The therapist instructs the
patients to “oppose the voice” and eventually teach them “to take control of
their hallucinations”. The patients are
told to interact with the avatar as if it were a real person, but they are fully
aware that it cannot harm them due to the patient being its creator.
Around one in every hundred people
worldwide is affected by schizophrenia, afflicted with multiple neurological
symptoms, most commonly including delusions and hallucinations. This makes it nearly impossible for
schizophrenic patients to maintain normal relationships. The standard treatment for schizophrenia is a
combination of very strong anti-psychotic drugs and talking therapy, such as
CBT. According to the National Institute
for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), less than one in ten schizophrenic
patients in the UK have access to treatment.
A more worrying statistic is that about a quarter of schizophrenics
continue to suffer from auditory hallucinations even after treatment. This new avatar treatment offers new hope for
patients, while also excluding the dangers of powerful medications.
An early pilot study of this
program involved sixteen patients receiving varying levels of treatment. Some patients received up to seven 30-minute
sessions with the avatar. Nearly all of
the subjects reported a decrease in number and severity of their hallucinations. According to the UCL News website, “three of
the patients stopped hearing voices completely after experiencing 16, 13, and
3.5 years of auditory hallucinations, respectively”. While this early study features a very small
sample and potential confounds, this is still incredible news in the realm of
helping schizophrenic patients.
The
Wellcome Trust has recently put another 1.3 million towards the program in
order to test their results on a larger random sample. Patients can begin enrolling in early July
and the results are expected for the end of 2015.
This is a picture of the front of the Science Museum, London!
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