(The Guardian) – In avatar therapy, a clinician gives voice to their patients’ inner demons. For some of the participants in a new trial, the results have been astounding

This new therapy demanded that voices were listened to closely, and responded to as if they were spoken by entirely real external beings. Trial participants would create an avatar of their voice: a moving, three-dimensional digital embodiment that looks and sounds like the persecutor inside their heads. They would be guided by a therapist to have a dialogue with the voice – and the hope was, through doing so, gain control over it.

Within a few weeks, the voice that told Joe he was dead – the one he so feared could be real – was manifested in colour in front of him. For the therapy to work, he needed to find the courage to look the demon in the eyes; to challenge and conquer it. If he succeeded, the voices might fade away. (Read More)