“Facing” the Voices!

“Avatars may help control ‘voices’ in schizophrenia.”  read the headline on the NHS Choices Health New Section on May 30th, 2013.

It was an article looking at another article previously published in one of the UK’s Newspapers – The Guardian – and which looked at the idea of creating a computerized avatar in order to ‘give a face’ to those voices that some of us who suffer from schizophrenia hear.

“Scientists are examining whether computer-generated avatars can help patients with schizophrenia,” The Guardian explains. The headlines report on a small study of a novel therapy technique that attempts to tackle auditory hallucinations, where people hear voices in their head.¹

“A small study” is an accurate description since the study in question ( according to the article in NHS Choices) involved only ’26 patients who had heard “persecutory” (abusive) voices for at least six months and continued to experience these hallucinations even after treatment with antipsychotic medication.’ That is not to say that the study doesn’t still bear consideration.¹

Those 26 patients were then split into two groups with 14 patients creating a computer-based face and voice to communicate with (an avatar) and 12 patients being treated as usual, which consisted of ongoing antipsychotic medication for seven weeks.

According to the article, “The patients in the intervention group created an avatar similar to the entity they believed was talking to them, essentially giving a human face to the voice they were hearing. Custom-made voice software was used to create a voice that matched the hallucination.¹

The therapist was then able to use this real-time voice software to speak through the avatar, with the voice heard by the patient. This was designed to let the patient and the hallucination have a conversation. During the sessions, the therapist and patient were in separate rooms and the therapist was able to talk to the patient directly, as well as through the avatar.¹

Talking directly to the patient in a traditional way, the therapist encouraged the patient to stand up to their hallucination. During the course of the conversation, the therapist allowed the avatar to increasingly come under the patient’s control, and shifted the character of the avatar from abusive to helpful and encouraging.¹

Patients were then given a recording of these sessions to listen to in order to reinforce their sense of control. Patients could complete up to six 30-minute sessions.”¹

The outcome of which, it is reported, were then researched and threefold..

• Frequency and disturbing qualities of hallucinations – this was measured using the hallucinations section of the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale.
• Patient experience related to the voices – this was measured using two subscales of the Beliefs About Voices Questionnaire: the omnipotence scale (which assesses the power that the patient perceives the voice has) and the malevolence scale (which assesses the patient’s belief about the evil intentions of the voice). This questionnaire assesses the delusions that patients hold about their hallucinations.
• Depression (common among people with schizophrenia) – this was measured using the Calgary Depression Scale.¹

The study was carried out by researchers from University College London and the Royal Free and University College Medical School, and was funded by the National Institute of Health Research and Bridging Funding from the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.

It was published in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Psychiatry.

As a schizophrenia sufferer myself the study fascinates me on several levels.  Not least of all being a question that arises in my mind whether these “facial avatars” which (as far as I understand) the patient themselves (with the help of the therapist) creates bear any resemblance or likeness to real people in the patient’s past.

We have long since understood that messages and dialogues that we pick up in our childhood, formative or early years, along with repeated messages and dialogues throughout our lives can play a large part in our self-esteem or lack thereof and I wonder how much they play in those persecutory voices that some of us schizophrenia sufferers hear?

I would be very interested to get your feedback and input on this!  What do you think?

Apologies For My Recent Absence

Hi all,

Just a short post to apologize for my recent absence.

One of my daughters flew in for a m0nth’s vacation with me and immediately prior to that I was unwell.

But I am back in full swing of things now and apologize for my absence.

Kind regards and God bless you.

Kevin.

Getting Help Survey Ends – Results Shown

Hi All,

As promised I have now closed the Getting Help Survey which we launched some weeks back now.

The survey asked folk the following question….

“From the point of trying to get help with your mental health, how long did it take you to get an acceptable diagnosis for your mental health?”

Well as is often the case with these things only 45 people voted but that is a fairly good indicator and so I thought I would share the results with you all…

Interestingly, and very sadly, some 33 voters out of the 45 total voters sad it took over a year before they got an acceptable diagnosis in respect of their mental health.  That equates to some 73.3% of those voting.

A further 3 voters said they had never been diagnosed and a further 2 said they had never accepted the diagnosis that they were given.  This is a further 11% of those voting.

This means that quick and acceptable help was not received by over 84% of those voting.

Other figures were that:

One voter said it took more than one month but less than two months.

One voter said it took more than three months but less than six months.

One voter said it took more than six months but less than  a year.

Thankfully 4 voters stated that they did indeed get an acceptable diagnosis within one month of seeking help for their mental health.

I am extremely aware that this is a very small poll when you consider the amount of people suffering with mental health related challenges and who have actually sought help.  But I can’t help wondering just how indicative this is and why it is this way?

I would certainly be interested in your comments and feedback on this

Getting Help Survey – Closing This Week!

Hi all,

Just to let everyone know that I planning on closing the “Getting Help Survey” this week.

If you haven’t had your say in the survey now is the time to do it.

It only takes a couple of minutes to complete and your vote DOES count!

Simply visit this link – Getting Help Survey – and enter your vote.

Many thanks and kind regards

Kevin.

Have You Voted Yet?

Back at the end of January I posted a piece concerning how long it takes to get an acceptable diagnosis in respect of Mental Health.

In that piece I asked members to vote indicating how long it took them to get the diagnosis that they needed.

About 10 days ago I published a graph indicating the results of the few votes that we had had so far and thought that today I would publish an update on these results as a few members have communicated their interest in this survey.

So here are the results as at about 10 minutes ago..

Personally I find these results very informative and very indicative of what often happens when someone first believes there to be something that needs to be looked at in respect of their mental health.

As is often the case the number of people participating in this survey is still quite low. So can I firstly thank all of you who have voted and secondly put a shout out to all those who haven’t as yet voted asking you to take a view minutes to pop over and vote now?

You can vote by clicking here and then selecting the relevant option.

Many thanks and kind regards.

Kevin.

Introducing Healthsofa.com

Recently I received an email via my personal blog Voices of Glass.  The email in question was from the administrator over at Health Sofa and asked for my input concerning the site.

Health sofa aims “to give users a platform to share and learn from experiences others made in an easy-to-use question-and-answer format.¹” According to what I have been told, the focus, “used to be on medications¹” but has now expanded to “general health topics¹“.

The site is user-led and undergoing some new changes in it’s layout and design at the moment in order to make it more user-friendly and to be appealing to a wider audience.

Working on the understanding, as stated on the site, that they want to “help you with getting an answer to your question.²” And that “The contributors at healthsofa do not provide a replacement for professional help from your doctor or healthcare professional.²” I personally think this could be an excellent resource.

I like the fact that they warn visitors that “No user-generated submissions are reviewed for factual correctness.²” and that they give a clear warning and advice to, “Always consult your doctor if you need specific advice for your healthcare needs.²“

The information provided on the site is free and questions can be asked anonymously without the need to register if you prefer.  And all information shared can serve as basis for research that assists your needs for information.

As bloggers who blog about mental health related issues and who have first hand experience of mental health medication our input can, I feel, be invaluable on such a site.

If you are interested and have the time, why not pop across to HealthSofa and check it out and let me know what you think. I really would be interested in your feedback and I am sure that the administrator over there would also value your feedback.

Whilst I have not advised him that I will be posting this post concerning the site, I am aware that he wishes to get the forum out there and available to more people and I will be advising him of this post so that he too can read your comments concerning the site.

Many thanks.

Kind Regards and God bless you.
Kevin.

¹ Quotes taken from administrator’s email to me.
² Quotes taken directly from the healthsofa site.

Getting Help Survey Reminder.

Hi all.

It has now been a week since we launched the “Getting Help Survey” and the initial results are quite interesting.

The survey focuses on how long it took people from the point of realizing there maybe something with their mental health  that needed attention until the point of receiving an acceptable diagnosis.

More details and a chance to participate in this survey can be found here but here are the initial results after the first week.  Which I think are extremely interesting.

If you haven’t already participated in this survey and would be willing to do so and it is appropriate please go to this link  SURVEY.  Your vote really does matter.

Many thanks.

Kevin