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CHALLENGE and Face Your Fears: Virtual Reality Treatment for Auditory Hallucinations and Paranoid Ideations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

L. Glenthøj ,
L. Smith ,
L. Mariegaard ,
A.S. Due ,
A. Christensen ,
M. Christensen ,
D. Vernal ,
U. Jeppesen  and
M. Nordentoft
L. Glenthøj*
Affiliation:
Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Core-copenhagen Research Center For Mental Health, Hellerup, Denmark
L. Smith
Affiliation:
Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Core-copenhagen Research Center For Mental Health, Hellerup, Denmark
L. Mariegaard
Affiliation:
Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Core-copenhagen Research Center For Mental Health, Hellerup, Denmark
A.S. Due
Affiliation:
Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Core-copenhagen Research Center For Mental Health, Hellerup, Denmark
A. Christensen
Affiliation:
Mental Health Centre in the Southern part of Denmark, Esbjerg Department, Esbjerg N, Denmark
M. Christensen
Affiliation:
Aalborg University Hospital, Outpatient Unit For Schizophrenia, Aalborg, Denmark
D. Vernal
Affiliation:
Aalborg University Hospital, Outpatient Unit For Schizophrenia, Aalborg, Denmark
U. Jeppesen
Affiliation:
Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Core-copenhagen Research Center For Mental Health, Hellerup, Denmark
M. Nordentoft
Affiliation:
CORE-Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Hellerup, Denmark
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Background: Many patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders continue having distressing auditory hallucinations and paranoid ideations despite receiving current treatment. Virtual reality assisted treatment offers the potential of advancing current psychotherapies for psychotic symptoms by creating virtual environments that can elicit responses (e.g. thoughts, feelings, behaviours) mirroring real-world settings. In two large-scale randomised clinical trials, we are investigating whether targeted virtual reality assisted psychotherapy can reduce psychotic symptoms and increase daily life functioning and quality of life. The CHALLENGE trial examines whether nine sessions of virtual reality-assisted psychotherapy is superior to nine sessions of standard treatments in reducing the severity, frequency, and distress of auditory hallucinations in patients with psychosis. In the Face your Fears trial we are investigating whether virtual reality assisted cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is superior to standard CBT in reducing levels of paranoid ideation in patients with psychosis spectrum disorders. Methods: The CHALLENGE and Face your Fears trials are randomised, assessor-blinded parallel-groups superiority clinical trials, allocating a total of 266 and 256 patients, respectively to either the experimental intervention or a control condition. The trials are currently enrolling patients; thus, no quantitative data is available yet. The main objective of this presentation is to give a qualitative account of this new psychotherapeutic methods as it is applied in both trials. Results: Qualitative data comprising case descriptions and video material will be presented at the conference. Discussion: The preliminary findings indicate great potential for these innovative treatments albeit important concerns regarding implementation will be raised.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

auditory hallucinationsschizophréniaPsychotherapyvirtual reality
Type
Clinical/Therapeutic
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S22
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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