[AVATAR Therapy: Toward a new psychotherapeutic era for treatment-resistant auditory verbal hallucinations]

Treatment-resistant auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) represent a major challenge for modern psychiatry. Despite optimized pharmacological strategies, approximately one-third of patients with schizophrenia continue to hear intrusive voices persistently and daily, causing significant distress and lasting functional impairment. In this context, based on a simple yet revolutionary idea, AVATAR therapy offers a practical therapeutic alternative or a complementary tool for patients and clinicians. This technique combines digital voice modelling, graded exposure, and psychotherapeutic mediation: the patient co-creates and interacts with an embodied representation of their voice. This approach promotes reattribution of the phenomenon, reduces distress, and fosters greater control over the experience. All recent studies have converged on its clinically relevant efficacy and high patient acceptability. By combining technology, neuroscience, and personalization, AVATAR therapy exemplifies the transition toward person-centered precision psychotherapy.