No abstract

Schizophrenia is a severe and highly disabling mental illness. Although several pharmacological solutions are available to alleviate symptoms of schizophrenia, they do not seem to provide solution for accompanying social dysfunctions. To handle this unmet clinical need, many innovative interventions have been developed recently. Considering the promising results on this field and the development trend, characterized by the growing proportion of included interactive technology, our research team developed a novel virtual reality (VR)-based targeted theory of mind (ToM) intervention (VR-ToMIS) for stable outpatients with schizophrenia. VR-ToMIS is a nine-session long structured and individualized method that uses cognitive and behavioural therapeutic techniques in an immersive VR environment. Our study was a randomized, controlled pilot study.Twenty-one patients have been recruited and randomly allocated to either VR-ToMIS or passive VR condition. Patients assigned to passive VR condition could use the same VR software as the VR-ToMIS group, but without any interventions. Effects on psychiatric symptoms, neurocognitive and social cognitive functions, pragmatic language skills and quality of life were evaluated by using analysis of covariance. According to our results, VR-ToMIS was associated with improvements in negative symptoms, in one neurocognitive field (immediate memory), ToM and pragmatic language skills, but no significant change in quality of life scores was detected. Significant changes in VR-ToMIS group were associated with moderate to large therapeutic effects (η p 2 = .24-.46, φ = .55-.67). On the background of the presented pilot results, VR-ToMIS is concluded to be feasible and tolerable.schizophrenia, theory of mind, virtual reality | INTRODUCTIONSchizophrenia is a severe and disabling mental illness, affecting 1% of the population (Saha, Chant, Welham, & McGrath, 2005). Although effective treatment of this disorder is usually associated with the alleviation of positive and-to a lesser extent-negative symptoms, in most cases, social functioning remains impaired, causing long-lasting difficulties for the patients and their families and resulting in welldefined economic burden for the society as well (Gábor, 2011;Leifker, Bowie, & Harvey, 2009). As pharmacotherapy does not seem to offer

Schizophrenia is a severe and disabling mental illness, associated with persistent difficulties in social functioning. While gaining and retaining a job or staying socially integrated can be very difficult for the patients, the treatment of poor functionality remains challenging with limited options in pharmacotherapy. To address the limitations of medical treatment, several interesting and innovative approaches have been introduced in the field of psychotherapy. Recent approaches incorporate modern technology as well, such as virtual reality. A potential therapeutic benefit of virtual reality is particularly significant when an interpersonal dimension of the problem needs to be addressed. One example is a Virtual Reality based Theory of Mind Intervention (VR-ToMIS), a novel method, which enables patients to practice complex social interactions without the burden of real-life consequences. Our paper presents a case report showing promising results of VR-ToMIS. Ms. Smith is a 50- year-old patient who has been suffering from schizophrenia for 20 years. Although in her case there was no problem with compliance throughout the years, she had severe problems regarding social functionality. With VR-ToMIS, she improved in ToM and communicative-pragmatic skills. The effects of the intervention went beyond the increased scores of the tests. Before the intervention there was a risk of the patient becoming unemployed as she was unable to follow the main principles of communicative exchange. Usually, her contribution was more informative than was required. After the intervention her communication became more balanced and she could retain her job. This case suggests that VR-ToMIS may be a promising tool for treating social disfunction in schizophrenia.

No abstract