ArticleTrials2022
The CHALLENGE trial: the effects of a virtual reality-assisted exposure therapy for persistent auditory hallucinations versus supportive counselling in people with psychosis: study protocol for a randomised clinical trial.
Article in Trials, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- "It Felt Good to Be Able to Say That Out Loud"-Therapeutic Alliance and Processes in AVATAR Therapy for People Who Hear Distressing Voices: Peer-Led Qualitative Study.JMIR mental health · 2026Trial
- The Impact of AVATAR Therapy on Voice Hearing in Everyday Life: ESM Outcomes of the AVATAR2 Trial.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Trial
- Digital AVATAR therapy for distressing voices in psychosis: the phase 2/3 AVATAR2 trial.Nature medicine · 2024Trial
- Is emotion regulation a mechanism of change in virtual reality-assisted therapy for auditory hallucinations? Secondary analyses of the CHALLENGE randomized clinical trial.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Psychological and behavioral mechanisms linking childhood trauma profiles to voice-related distress in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: latent class, mediation, and conditional process analyses.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- From Exposure to Insight: Lessons From Five Contemporary OCD Cases and Where Treatment Should Go Next.Journal of clinical psychology · 2026Article
- Relational Therapies for People Who Hear Voices: Operationalisation and Current Status of an Emergent Group of Psychological Therapies.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Review
- Article
- Immersive Virtual Reality-Assisted Therapy for Distressing Voices in Psychosis: Qualitative Study of Participants' and Therapists' Experiences in the Challenge Trial.JMIR serious games · 2025Article
- SPIRIT 2025 explanation and elaboration: updated guideline for protocols of randomised trials.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Article
- Integrating Virtual Reality, Neurofeedback, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (Hybrid): Protocol of a Pilot, Unblinded, Single-Arm Interventional Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- The neuroscience of algorithmic suffering: short comparative analysis between human and AI.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Article
- Study protocol for the EYEdentify project: An examination of gaze behaviour in autistic adults using a virtual reality-based paradigm.PloS one · 2025Article
- Using AVATAR therapy to conquer auditory hallucinations.Nature medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Meeting OCD face-to-face: Preliminary findings from an avatar-based dialogue intervention.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMany patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders continue having distressing auditory hallucinations in spite of treatment with antipsychotic medication. The aim of this trial is to examine the effect of a targeted virtual reality therapy for persistent auditory hallucinations in individuals with psychosis. The trial explores whether this type of therapy can decrease the severity, frequency and distress of auditory hallucinations and, additionally, whether it can reduce clinical symptoms and enhance daily functioning in individuals with psychosis.
methodsThe study is a randomised, assessor-blinded parallel-group superiority clinical trial, allocating a total of 266 patients to either the experimental intervention or supportive counselling. The participants will be randomised to either (1) seven sessions of virtual reality therapy or (2) seven sessions of supportive counselling to be delivered within the first 12 weeks after inclusion in the study. All participants will be assessed at baseline and 12 and 24 weeks post-baseline. Independent assessors blinded to the treatment allocation will evaluate the outcome. The primary outcome is the level of auditory hallucinations measured with the Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scales (PSYRATS-AH) total score at the cessation of treatment at 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes are frequency of auditory hallucinations, the distress caused by auditory hallucinations, perceived voice power, patient acceptance of voices, patients' ability to respond to voices in an assertive way and social and daily function. DISCUSSION: Promising evidence of the efficacy of this immersive virtual reality-based therapy for auditory hallucinations exist, but evidence needs to be established in a large, methodological rigorous trial. If the therapy proves to be beneficial in reducing the severity of refractory auditory hallucinations, a large group of patients with schizophrenia and related disorders could be the target group of this short-term psychotherapeutic intervention.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.