Table 2 Reasons for taking part in the AVATAR RCT and information about the voice selected for therapy purposes
Name (anonymised) | Age | Primary Diagnosis | Age voices started | Reason for taking part in AVATAR RCT | Sessions | Voice selected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liam | 55 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 36 | “I’ve been part of another study which was computerised cognitive therapy at the X Hospital.” | 7 | Male distressing voice |
George | 34 | Schizoaffective Disorder | 17 | “I felt some kind of therapy could bring about some changes and help me to improve my life and, yeah, to seek help.” | 7 | Male distressing voice, “similar to myself” |
Alison | 35 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 18 | “My parents had brought it up and I thought it might be helpful and so we went from there.” | 7 | Female “gravelly” and abusive voice |
John | 52 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 20 | “I thought you (AVATAR team) might be able to do certain things to do to me to get rid of these demons, you know.” | 10 | Male “demonic” and “bullying” voice |
Gregory | 50 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 9 | “Because I thought it would benefit me to do with other things, and that the reason why is because eventually I got on, the very first time I met my therapist and I thought ‘do I really want to do this’ but I got on with her.” | 7 | Male “nasty” voice |
William | 50 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 16 | “Well, it just seemed a good because the NHS don’t really provide much therapy, because they can’t afford it I don’t think, so it’s just a good opportunity to get some therapy and some help with my condition really.” | 7 | Male “threatening” voice, “trying to attack me” |
Shaheim | 31 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 20 | “I’m hearing voices and I thought it would be helpful that the avatar can get rid of my voices.” | 7 | Male distressing voice |
Ajay | 39 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 27 | “Because I was hearing more than one voice, it was 4 voices, and hearing them every day is very upsetting and distressing sometimes.” | 7 | Male distressing voice |
Assaf | 33 | Schizoaffective Disorder | 22 | “I wanted to get rid of my voices and I wanted to get better.” | 7 | Male distressing voice |
Harry | 36 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 20 | “My psychiatrist said to me about trying the avatar thing and I said yeah why not. And I jumped at the chance to try and do it.” | 8 | Male distressing voice |
Imene | 37 | Depression with Psychotic Symptoms | 34 | “I actually thought it was gonna be of help to me. That it was gonna help my mental illness, because my care coordinator told me. She actually, she explained to me about it.” | 7 | Male “huge” and abusive voice |
Mohamed | 42 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 25 | “I decided to volunteer on the project because I used to hear voices and they disturbed me a lot.” | 3 (Considered completer) | Male “big” and “abusive” voice |
Anne | 46 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 18 | “I suppose first of all, I wouldn’t have heard of it if it wasn’t referred to me by my psychiatrist. That was the first port, when he told me about it. And I thought, well it’s something different, seemed to…I liked the idea of the voices being – or the voice that we concentrated on – being acknowledged as being real, rather than just ‘oh here’s some tablets, off you go’, you know.” | 7 | Male distressing voice of “my deceased father” |
Catherine | 47 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 24 | “I wanted to decrease the frequency and maybe the loudness” | 7 | Female distressing voice, “similar to my voice, when I was a child” |
Ray (Drop-out) | 46 | Paranoid Schizophrenia | 17 | “To give people like yourself insight, to be able to use, what’s the word not ulterior, different treatment strategies. If it helps other people, I’m all for these research tests.” | 1 | Male “dominant” and distressing voice |