Reacción a "Clinical trial tests digital avatar to treat voices in people with psychosis"

The study suggests the benefit of ‘embodying’ the voices presented by people with psychosis in an avatar in order to reduce their distress. A limitation of the research is that it compares adding this intervention to standard treatment with not adding it, but not with any other type of intervention or technique. The results are unpromising because they find a significant difference in improvement at 16 weeks that is lost when the results are measured at the end of the study, at 28 weeks.

In any case, we should consider who will benefit from delimiting and externalising this specific experience and what impact ‘personalising’ voices through an avatar may have on them in the medium and long term. This is crucial because hearing voices is not an isolated or unique problem for people diagnosed with psychosis, but a further expression of their psychological suffering, which requires a holistic and contextualised view and understanding of their biography and environment.