Schizophrenia: What can patients do against their inner voice?

"You are garbage .You are a waste of space." Lauren sees a schematic face on a computer screen, verbally attacking him. The voice seems distorted and perverse. Timidly, the woman replies, "Can you please disappear." In an adjoining room, Tom Craig sits and stays in touch with his patient with the help of a helmet. "That's good, Lauren," she encourages the psychiatrist. "But can you try to be more energetic?"

It's a slightly different therapy, presented here in a video of King's College London. The voice of the avatar, the virtual person who attacks Lauren on the computer screen, is modeled on the voice that she hears in her head. Lauren suffers from a psychosis. She should learn to resist the voice. As the session progresses, Tom Craig can make the voice aggressive more friendly and defensive. This gives patients like Lauren the positive feeling of being able to influence the voice in their head.