Refining the computer based system for Avatar Therapy and evaluating its effectiveness in a randomised controlled trial conducted by an independent research team in London.

About 25% of people with schizophrenia continue to suffer with persecutory auditory hallucinations despite drug treatment. Their capacity to work and make relationships is grossly impaired, often for the rest of their life. We have developed and evaluated a novel therapy based on computer technology which enables each patient to create an avatar of the entity (human or non- human) that they believe is talking to them. The therapist promotes a dialogue between the patient and the avatar in which the avatar progressively comes under the patient's control. A maximum of 7 sessions lasting 30 minutes has resulted in highly significant reductions in the patients' abnormal experiences, enhancing the quality of their life. The recorded sessions are transferred to an MP3 for patients to use at home in perpetuity, resulting in continuing improvement over time. The proposed research encompasses: 1. Refining the system and streamlining the technology to make it more user- friendly. 2. Evaluating the improved system by a randomised controlled trial conducted by an independent team of researchers trained by the originator of the therapy. 3. Recruiting a large enough sample of suitable patients to the trial to identify predictors of a good response using baseline demographic and clinical data.