Can Virtual Reality Help Treat Schizophrenia?

Principal investigator: Associate Professor Andrew Thompson

Location: UK

Research award: PsyImpact

Funding Period: 2016-2018

Schizophrenia and other illnesses that can cause psychosis often make interacting with others and taking part in everyday activities more difficult.

And while therapies exist to help people gain confidence in social situations, many involve one-to-one support or group sessions – which people with psychotic illnesses often find difficult.

So Professor Andrew Thompson and his team at the University of Warwick are investigating how new technologies could help. They’re using virtual reality and online virtual worlds to understand how they could help people to benefit from therapy without the need to engage in stressful social situations.

The project

The project, led by Andrew Thompson at the University of Warwick, explored the use of virtual reality (VR) as a method for delivering social cognitive therapy to individuals experiencing psychosis, particularly young adults. Recognising the challenges many patients face with traditional face-to-face therapy, such as social anxiety and poor engagement.

The project aimed to adapt an existing group-based social cognition training package (SCIT) to a virtual environment. This adaptation was co-designed with input from service users, clinical researchers, and VR designers, ensuring the intervention was relevant and accessible.

The project was conducted in two phases: first, the adaptation and development of the VR intervention, and second, a proof-of-concept trial with young people experiencing their first episode of psychosis.

The process

This research project had two phases:

In phase one, Andrew and his team worked with virtual reality experts and people with mental health problems. Together they took an existing training package that helps people to feel more comfortable in social situations and recreated it using virtual technology. This might involve designing support so it can be accessed through online virtual world Second Life, for instance.

In phase two, the researchers tested this virtual support package with 20 young people. While part of the trial looked at how well the virtual support worked, the team also wanted to know if people are happy to use virtual reality and if they complete the training.

The overall aim of the project was to investigate whether virtual worlds can be immersive and realistic enough to deliver effective therapy. It also explored whether this new technology can benefit a group of people who often struggle to engage with more traditional therapies.

The outcome

The trial demonstrated that the VR intervention was highly rated by participants for content, relevance, guidance, and safety. Participants reported feeling immersed and engaged, with the intervention proving useful in their daily lives. Clinicians found no safety concerns, though their involvement in evaluating effectiveness was limited. Importantly, assessments showed that participants significantly improved their emotion recognition skills after completing the intervention.

The project highlighted the feasibility of delivering social cognition therapy in a virtual environment, especially for those traditionally hard to engage in treatment.

The impact

This research has the potential to directly improve the lives of people with psychosis by providing an accessible, engaging alternative to traditional therapy. The findings suggest that remote interventions can help individuals overcome barriers to accessing mental health treatments and enhance their social cognition skills, which are crucial for everyday functioning and building relationships.

The project’s success supports the development of a full-scale randomised controlled trial (RCT) and the potential rollout of the intervention to NHS services. Additionally, the approach could be beneficial for other mental health conditions where engagement is challenging, paving the way for innovative, technology-driven solutions in clinical care.

Associate Professor Andrew Thompson

Andrew Thompson is Associate Clinical Professor at Warwick Medical School. His research interests include novel treatments for the early phase of psychotic disorders.