# Giving the voice a face: Virtual avatars may ease distress in schizophrenia

Source: [Medical Xpress - latest medical and health news stories](https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-11-voice-virtual-avatars-ease-distress.html) · 2026-11-11 · Medicine
Page: https://themorning.science/story/giving-the-voice-a-face-virtual-avatars-may-ease-distress-in-schizophrenia-084e67b86f9a6513
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- Researchers at Semmelweis University studied a virtual reality treatment for patients with schizophrenia.
- Patients meet, in VR, an avatar representing the voice they hear, which is often threatening or abusive.
- The study was published in Acta Psychologica, and the reported summary says the treatment was associated with reduced distress, though the source text is cut off before details.

## Why it matters

It suggests a VR-based approach that externalises hallucinated voices could be an additional tool for reducing distress in schizophrenia, though this is a single study reported only in a short summary.

## Coverage

- [Giving the voice a face: Virtual avatars may ease distress in schizophrenia](https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-11-voice-virtual-avatars-ease-distress.html) — Medical Xpress - latest medical and health news stories, 2026-11-11

Tags: schizophrenia, virtual reality, mental health, avatars, psychiatry

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science