Induction of auditory hallucination experience for patient with schizophrenia using virtual auditory hallucination exposure system: A preliminary study

Abstract

Auditory hallucination (AH) is a false or distorted hearing perceptive experience that occurs without adequate stimulation of the relevant auditory organ, but has the compelling sense of reality of a true perception. In fact, patients with schizophrenia who suffered from the AH could easily be disturbed to their behavior or thought by their AH. The first line of treatment for AHs is psychotic medication; however, estimates indicate that as many as 25% to 50% of individuals with schizophrenia experience residual positive symptoms of psychosis, despite of proper levels of medication. For such reasons, several new approaches have been adapted from cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) that appears to be beneficial. CBT have been designed in which schizophrenic subjects are trained in strategies for coping with verbal AHs. However, these coping skills training have limitations due to the absence of assistive tool for giving similar and relative stimuli in several situations. Therefore, in this study, we propose the virtual AH exposure system using VR. And the aim of the present study was to investigate whether it was feasibility to use Virtual Hall with people with psychosis who have AH.