VR-VOICES

Hearing voices

Around 9% of Dutch people occasionally hear voices. For some people, this does not cause any problems, but for others, hearing voices is distressing and causes difficulties in their daily lives. We have developed a virtual reality treatment (VR-VOICES) to address this.

Talking to an avatar

With the VR-VOICES treatment, clients choose a virtual character or ‘avatar’. The avatar sounds like the voice the client hears. The client can then, with the help of a therapist, engage in conversation with the voice via the avatar in VR. During the treatment, the person is coached to challenge the avatar, stand up for themselves and experience greater control, so that they experience less distress and/or anxiety when hearing the voice in everyday life. We also believe that this treatment will reduce the frequency of hearing voices. Between treatment sessions, people are given recordings of their conversations with the avatar to take home, which they can then listen to as an additional source of support. The treatment lasts 7 to 10 sessions.

The study

In 2023, we launched the randomised effectiveness study, funded by a grant from ZonMw. As well as at the UMCG, the study is also being conducted at the Stemmenpoli clinic of GGZ Drenthe in Assen and at KieN-VIP in Friesland.

A total of 112 people will take part in the study. People who have been experiencing voices for more than 3 months and are aged 16 or over are eligible to participate. This study compares VR-VOICES with standard treatment for hearing voices.