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Virtual Reality Therapy for Voice Hearing (VR-VOICES): a Randomized Controlled Trial
Sponsor: University Medical Center Groningen
Summary
Rationale: Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) - hearing voices that others cannot hear - are common in mental illnesses. For many people AVH are distressing, disabling and persistent, despite medication. Current psychological interventions show low to medium effects. Preliminary studies suggest that an innovative empowering psychological therapy using computer simulations representing the AVH (avatars) can be effective for reducing AVH distress and frequency. Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to improve this treatment. Therefore, we developed a novel VR treatment for this problem. In this study, the effect of this treatment will be investigated. Objective: To test the effect of a novel VR treatment for AVH (VR-VOICES) on distress and frequency of AVH in patients with a psychiatric disorder. Furthermore, to investigate the effect of VR-VOICES on clinical symptoms, quality of life, and healthcare costs of the treatment.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
16 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
112
Start Date
2022-10-31
Completion Date
2026-02-01
Last Updated
2025-09-10
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
VR-VOICES
7-10 individual VR assisted therapy for voice-hearing session and two booster sessions, in addition to TAU.
Treatment as usual
Treatment as usual as provided by the mental health centers
Locations (3)
Lentis
Groningen, Provincie Groningen, Netherlands
GGZ Drenthe
Assen, Netherlands
University Medical Center Groningen
Groningen, Netherlands