Mixed-Reality Platform for Simulation and Synthesis of Multi-Modal Hallucinations with Applications to Schizophrenia Treatment

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Treating patients with schizophrenia for auditory hallucinations has traditionally required multiple trials of antipsychotic medications with approximately one in three patients being resistant to antipsychotic therapies. An alternative called Avatar Therapy has been developed and shown to effectively reduce the distress and helplessness associated with auditory hallucinations. While Avatar Therapy shows great promise, there are many open questions as to the requirements for optimal delivery of this treatment. Similarly, many potential enhancements to how avatars are rendered to the patient remain to be tested. Exploration of these questions and enhancements requires development of a virtual reality platform that offers to the therapist the ability to easily adjust various parameters of the avatar(s). We will iteratively design, implement, and test such a platform, and then apply the knowledge gained to an augmented reality version of the platform suitable for use outside of the therapist's office. The resulting intelligent medical device will offer the possibility of providing therapeutic benefits to patients in their day-to-day activities.