A ground-breaking therapy that utilizes AI-driven digital avatars is showing promise in helping individuals with psychosis manage distressing voices, based on research from King’s College London. Psychosis is a mental health disorder that distorts a person’s perception of reality, significantly disrupting an individual’s daily life.
The innovative treatment involves patients creating an avatar that embodies the voices they hear, complete with facial features and vocal tone. Under the guidance of a therapist, patients engage in dialogue with the avatar, learning to assert control over the voices. The study, published in Nature Medicine, marks the first therapy to show lasting effects in reducing both the frequency and impact of distressing voices.
Following these promising findings, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended wider testing of the therapy across England. Such innovations highlight AI’s potential to offer a new, compassionate, and effective method for managing psychosis and other mental illnesses.
