Avatar Therapy Model and Ethical Principles in the Treatment of Auditory Hallucinations in Patients with Schizophrenia/Sizofreni Hastalarinda Isitsel Halusinasyonlarin Tedavisinde Avatar Terapi Modeli ve Etik Ilkeler

Schizophrenia is one of the most debilitating mental disorders. Auditory hallucinations, which are known to be closely related to interpersonal relationships, are the most common type of hallucinations observed in the course of schizophrenia. Virtual reality has been developing in various fields with the development of computerized technologies and has started to appear in the field of clinical psychology in the form of virtual reality therapies. Avatar therapy is among the interpersonal-based virtual reality therapy models that focus on auditory hallucinations among the symptoms of schizophrenia. The aim of avatar therapy is to enable the person to have control over auditory hallucinations. Within the scope of this review study; the past, present and future of schizophrenia treatment, effective intervention methods in the treatment of schizophrenia, virtual reality therapy, the main outlines of the avatar therapy model, the effectiveness studies of avatar therapy and ethical issues were discussed. The results of the research on the effectiveness of avatar therapy reveal the need for further research in this field. Keywords: Schizophrenia, auditory hallucination, avatar therapy, ethics Sizofreni ruhsal bozukluklar icerisinde en yikici ozelliklere sahip olanlardan biridir. Kisilerarasi iliskilerle yakindan iliskili oldugu bilinen isitsel halusinasyonlar sizofreni gidisatinda en sik gozlemlenen halusinasyon turudur. Sanal gerceklik, bilgisayarli teknolojilerin gelismesiyle cesitli alanlarda gelisim gostermektedir ve klinik psikoloji alaninda sanal gerceklik terapileri seklinde karsimiza cikmaya baslamistir. Avatar terapisi, sizofreni belirtileri arasindaki isitsel halusinasyonlara odaklanan kisilerarasi temelli sanal gerceklik terapi modelleri arasinda yer almaktadir. Avatar terapisi ile amaclanan, kisinin isitsel halusinasyonlari uzerinde kontrol sahibi olabilmesinin saglanmasidir. Bu derleme calismasi kapsaminda; sizofreni tedavisinin dunu, bugunu ve yarinina, sizofreni tedavisindeki etkili mudahale yontemlerine, sanal gerceklik terapisine, avatar terapi modelinin ana hatlarina, avatar terapisinin etkililik calismalarina ve etik ile iliskili konulara deginilmistir. Avatar terapisinin etkililik calismalarina dair arastirma sonuclari bu alanda yapilacak daha fazla arastirmaya ihtiyac oldugunu ortaya koymaktadir. Anahtar sozcukler: Sizofreni, isitsel halusinasyon, avatar terapi, etik