This thesis examines the new theatrical form of cyberformance (live performance by remote players using internet technologies) and contextualises it within the broader fields of networked performance, digital performance and theatre. Poststructuralist theories that contest the binary distinction between reality and representation provide the analytical foundation for the thesis. A critical reflexive methodological approach is undertaken in order to highlight three themes. First, the essential qualities and criteria of cyberformance are identified, and illustrated with examples from the early 1990s to the present day. Second, two cyberformance groups – the Plaintext Players and Avatar Body Collision – and UpStage, a purpose-built application for cyberformance, are examined in more detailed case studies. Third, the specifics of the cyberformance audience are explored and commonalities are identified between theatre and online culture. In conclusion, this thesis suggests that theatre and the internet have much to offer each other in this current global state of transition, and that cyberformance offers one means by which to facilitate the incorporation of new technologies into our lives.

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The study of the novel Avatar by Théophile Gautier accentuates the supernatural theme, which promotes in the narrative the insertion of the fantastic as well as the theme of romantic love and passionate love. For early discussions, this research refers to the cultural, social and historical French context, in order that to situate the Romantic Movemet whose trends are recurrent in the Gautier s work. Then, it mentions the Gautier contributions to the fortune criticism of the fantastic literature from comments about some narratives of his own, in which emphasize the formal and thematic characteristics that mark the writing of the author in his career as writer of fantastic literature. The literary analysis of Avatar highlights the elements of the narrative, considering the characters, narrator, virtual reader, time, space, actions, and others which add the formal procedures that punctuate the fantastic mode and trends of Romanticism presents in the work. The theme of the supernatural is manifested through the fantastic resource of avatar, bringing up the theme of love in its forms of romantic love, represented in the work by a couple whose love is reciprocal, and passionate love which refers to unrequited love. The analysis are based in the theories of Yves Reuter, David Lodge, Roland Bourneuf and Réal Ouellet when they deal with the literary elements of narrative; Remo Ceserani and Filipe Furtado by emphasize the fantastic mode, punctuating the narrative features as well as the supernatural themes; Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e Silva to presents literary characteristics which mark the Romanticism; Platão, Denis Rougemont, Benjamin Péret and others to discuss about love. / O estudo da novela Avatar, de Théophile Gautier destaca o tema sobrenatural, o qual promove na narrativa a inserção do fantástico, bem como a temática do amor romântico e do amor-paixão. Para início das discussões a pesquisa se reporta ao contexto cultural, social e histórico francês, a fim de situar o Movimento Romântico cujas tendências são recorrentes na obra em análise. Em seguida, registra-se as contribuições de Gautier à fortuna crítica da literatura de modo fantástico a partir de comentários acerca de algumas narrativas da autoria dele, das quais se ressaltam as características formais e temáticas que assinalam a escritura do autor em sua carreira de escritor fantástico. Na análise literária de Avatar ressalta-se os elementos constitutivos da narrativa, considerando as personagens, narrador, narratário, tempo, espaço, ações entre outros, aos quais se acrescentam os procedimentos formais que pontuam o modo fantástico e as tendências do Romantismo que perpassam pela obra. O tema do sobrenatural manifesta-se por intermédio do recurso fantástico do avatar, trazendo à tona a temática do amor em suas formas de amor romântico, representado na obra por um casal cujo amor é recíproco, e amor-paixão que remete a um amor não correspondido. A fundamentação teórica da análise de Avatar sustenta-se em Yves Reuter, David Lodge, Roland Bourneuf e Réal Ouellet ao tratarem dos elementos literários da narrativa; Remo Ceserani e Filipe Furtado ao ressaltarem o modo fantástico, pontuando os recursos narrativos bem como os temas sobrenaturais; Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e Silva ao apresentar as características literárias que assinalam o Romantismo; Platão, Denis Rougemont, Benjamin Péret dentre outros ao discutirem acerca do amor. / Mestre em Teoria Literária

近年政府推廣政策的過程中不斷借重創新思維，嘗試抓住民眾的注意力，政府必須將人民視為顧客，盡力提供服務使民眾滿意，換言之，企業型政府治理模式必然包含「治理」甚至是「政策推廣」相關概念，在公部門推廣政策的同時，我們時常看到政府向企業學習行銷手法推廣公共政策。本研究嘗試向企業行銷學習，藉由文獻回顧以及檢視公共政策行銷實例，從「移情作用、自我指涉、自我認同」三個面向，探討虛擬代言（avatar endorsement）如何應用在公共服務推廣，及促使民眾了解政府政策並使用公共服務的意願為何。 本研究以高雄都會大眾捷運系統目前執行的虛擬代言為討論主題，研究方法採用準實驗設計，由於過去研究指出高雄捷運旅運目的多半為觀光旅遊，因此受試者招募以年輕族群為調查對象，以了解當前虛擬代言能否提高年輕族群的喜好程度、使用捷運系統意願、購買相關商品意願、以及對捷運品牌的吸引程度，招募受試者後，採用配對分派方法進行實驗，以利進行實驗組與控制組態度變化比較。研究發現不同學歷的受試者對於虛擬代言的想法有顯著差異，而虛擬代言能有效提升外縣市的受試者對於該公共服務的吸引程度，只是對於既有的客群掌握則有待加強。 / In recent years, governments start to emphasize the importance of policy promotion and policy marketing. Under the belief of treating people as customers, the ultimate goal is to draw people’s attention and to increase their satisfaction on public services. Normally, the entrepreneurial-oriented governments would spend more time and efforts on “good governance” and “policy promotion”. As a result, when the governments want to promote certain policies, they often try to learn from the private sector on their marketing strategies. This study aims at applying the policy marketing strategies to promote public policies, particularly the effects of avatar endorsement strategy. Using the case of Kaohsiung metro system, this study focuses on three different aspects, the transference, self-reference, and self-identity, to explore how avatar endorsement worked with regard to public policy promotion, as well as to understand how it performed on increasing people’s willingness to receive more public services. This research adopts a quasi-experimental design to understand how the current avatar endorsement strategy affect younger generations on four different attitudes and behaviors, such as brand attitude, purchase intention, brand association, and attraction to the Kaohsiung metro. Results show that people with different educational levels have significantly different attitudes toward avatar endorsement strategy. In addition, the avatar endorsement strategy may effectively enhance the attractiveness of public transportation service toward the younger generation. Policy and managerial implications for the governments are discussed in the thesis.

Virtual worlds give us the opportunity to explore another self, a virtual character of the real life you. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) have become extremely popular over the last decade. It has also grown into a lucrative business. To keep the players, the game needs to be more than just a game. This study aimed at finding out what factors that determine which features of the character creation interface that are most important to players. The following research question was formed; “Which underlying factors affect how important different features of the character creation interface are to experienced MMORPG players? To be able to answer the question an extensive literature review was conducted. A qualitative approach was taken. Long interviews were made with five participants, two female and three male players. The interviews took place while they created a number of avatars in different MMORPGs. The interviews were then followed up. During the follow-ups, the impact the character creation process had for the players, were discussed. The findings indicate that the character creation interface is important for the players to get a good gaming experience. However different types of players require different things. Important features for the users to change were mainly; the head; the name; and adding parts of yourself on your character. The factors that determined the importance of these features were found to be; Player types; Identity types; Immersion levels; and whether or not the game or the gaming experience were new to the player. Another finding showed that the longer you have played a game the less bizarre the different races, classes and gender will seem. The study also indicated that the female participants had a hard time identifying with their male characters.

Detta kandidatarbete fokuserar på att undersöka aspekter som kan förstärka en användares upplevelse inom digitala spel. De aspekter som vi valt att fokusera på är användandet av Oculus Rift och Motion Capture då de tar upp viktiga punkter som Virtual Reality, närvaro och inlevelse i spel. Vi valde även att fokusera vår produktion mot skräckgenren då detta är ett område vi båda har stor passion för i diverse media. I vårt arbete har vi fått fram en hypotes om att spel som fokuserar på att lämna karaktären i ett tomt skal (ingen personlighet), lämnar en större chans för inlevelse hos spelaren då användarens egna känslor speglas på karaktären. Användandet av Oculus Rift och realistiska röresler via Motion Capture har en tendens att även stärka detta. / Detta är en reflektionsdel till en digital medieproduktion.

Distributed virtual environments (DVEs) have been an active area of research and engineering for more than 20 years. The most widely deployed DVEs are network games such as Quake, Halo, and World of Warcraft (WoW), with millions of users and billions of dollars in annual revenue. Deployed DVEs remain expensive centralized implementations despite significant research outlining ways to distribute DVE workloads. This dissertation shows previous DVE research evaluations are inconsistent with deployed DVE needs. Assumptions about avatar movement and proximity - fundamental scale factors - do not match WoW's workload, and likely the workload of other deployed DVEs. Alternate workload models are explored and preliminary conclusions presented. Using realistic workloads it is shown that a fully decentralized DVE cannot be deployed to today's consumers, regardless of its overhead. Residential broadband speeds are improving, and this limitation will eventually disappear. When it does, appropriate security mechanisms will be a fundamental requirement for technology adoption. A trusted auditing system ('Carbon') is presented which has good security, scalability, and resource characteristics for decentralized DVEs. When performing exhaustive auditing, Carbon adds 27% network overhead to a decentralized DVE with a WoW-like workload. This resource consumption can be reduced significantly, depending upon the DVE's risk tolerance. Finally, the Pairwise Random Protocol (PRP) is described. PRP enables adversaries to fairly resolve probabilistic activities, an ability missing from most decentralized DVE security proposals. Thus, this dissertations contribution is to address two of the obstacles for deploying research on decentralized DVE architectures. First, lack of evidence that research results apply to existing DVEs. Second, the lack of security systems combining appropriate security guarantees with acceptable overhead.

Les technologies issues du domaine du jeu vidéo intègrent de nouveaux traitements en santé mentale. La complexité de ces innovations connectées bouleverse le rôle des patients et des thérapeutes et induit la mise en place de nouveaux processus dans les épisodes de soin. Le conflit opposant les notions de protection et de contrôle au concept du développement du pouvoir d’agir des patients situe la problématique au cœur de la thérapie par avatar (TA). Sous le prisme de l’approche systémique et plus spécifiquement de l’approche du design participatif, ce mémoire pose la question des effets du design de la TA sur ses deux catégories d’utilisateurs; les patients et les cliniciens. Les difficultés d’accès au terrain ont limité la cueillette au seul point de vue des cliniciens, et non pas à celui des designers impliqués dans la TA. L’étude de cas de la recherche du Dr Dumais (2018) a mis en lumière la différence de perception épistémologique des cliniciens à propos du concept d’une approche de design autre que technologique. L’analyse des données résultant de la revue de littérature et la comparaison entre les impacts du design technologique et l’approche de design participatif ont montré le niveau d’efficacité de la réalité virtuelle comme moyen thérapeutique. La modélisation du fonctionnement de la TA a fait émerger la dynamique du levier qui module favorablement le pouvoir d’agir du patient participant, ce processus s’apparentant au design participatif. Les propriétés actuelles de la TA ouvrent à des recherches futures où l’intégration d’une approche participative à toutes les étapes du processus de la TA en vérifieraient la pertinence à plus grande échelle. D’autant plus que les directives institutionnelles, dont le plan d’action en santé mentale, demandent la reconnaissance du patient comme partenaire des soignants et acteur de son rétablissement. / Technologies from the video game field are integrating new mental health treatments. The complexity of these connected innovations changes the role of patients and therapists and induces the implementation of new processes in episodes of care. The conflict between the concepts of protection and control and the concept of the development of patients' power to act places the problem at the heart of AT. Under the prism of the systemic approach and more specifically of the participative design approach, this dissertation raises the question of the effects of avatar therapy (AT) design on its two categories of users; patients and clinicians. Difficulties in accessing the field limited the collection to the clinicians' point of view only, and not to that of the designers involved in AT. Dr Dumais' research case study (2018) highlighted the difference in epistemological perception by clinicians about the concept of a design approach other than technological. The analysis of the data resulting from the literature review and the comparison between the impacts of technological design and the participatory design approach showed the level of effectiveness of virtual reality as a therapeutic means. Modeling the functioning of AT has brought to light the dynamic of the lever which favorably modulates the acting power of the participating patient, this process being akin to participatory design. The current properties of AT open to future research where the integration of a participatory approach at all stages of the AT process would verify its relevance on a larger scale. Especially since the institutional guidelines, including the mental health action plan, require recognition of the patient as a partner of caregivers and actor of his recovery.

Cette thèse, relevant de la problématique des avatars et des métaphores de la figure humaine et deses multiples représentations scéniques, interroge les créations contemporaines de la marionnette. Elle a pourpoint de départ la pratique de la marionnette et la place conférée à la figure dans les dispositifs scéniques.Fondés sur des confluences des figures animées et des images de synthèse, les dispositifs contemporains issusdes nouvelles techniques de l’image et du son ont permis de dépasser la structure traditionnelle de lamarionnette. A mi-chemin entre poupée et forme raffinée, la marionnette dépasse ses contours et ouvre vers denouvelles représentations scéniques : des ombres, des doubles virtuels, des avatars de synthèse, pouvant êtretransformés et évolués en temps réel. Toutes ses représentations posent la question de l’incarnation. Ainsi lafigure de l’avatar se présente comme un possible prolongement de la marionnette. Les outils technologiquespermettent une nouvelle manière de former, d’élaborer la figure. Ils offrent une infinie possibilité de ladédoubler, de la multiplier, de la répliquer. Dans ce geste répétitif la figure tend progressivement vers uneffacement de ses contours. Loin de la forme anthropomorphique, elle symbolise le plus souvent une idée, unconcept, un mot en jouant sur l’essence de la matière et les agencements plastiques d’objets et de matières.Quant aux possibles dédoublements de l’interprète réalisés grâce aux technologies de l’image et du son, lecorps vivant en chair et en os se démultiplie dans des figurations comme les ombres, les reflets et les doublesvirtuels. Ces derniers deviennent un indice, une icône de notre présence. La démultiplication spatiale etcorporelle de leur présence iconique fait scintiller les nombreux subterfuges d’une ruse scénique. Car cettenouvelle figure, construite par les jeux d’illusions et de leurres qu’autorise l’usage du numérique effaceprogressivement les contours traditionnels de la figure humaine en brouillant les pistes d’une identificationtangible. Ces nouvelles figures se présentent comme des images décalées et sont une véritable invitation àpenser l’absence et la présence, l’apparition et la disparition. La figure s’ouvre à une interprétation multiple etoffre une vision différée en interrogeant la place de l’humain dans notre société. Les dispositifs scéniques quiabritent ces figures deviennent une véritable iconostase pour leur déploiement. Espace d’une fiction du regard,la figure compose et décompose sans cesse ses contours en offrant son image à celui qui la regarde. Lespectateur est invité à vivre une expérience oculaire en le transformant en véritable acte de voir. / This thesis studies the problematics of avatars and metaphors of the human form and its manifoldstage representations; it questions contemporary ‘creation’ in the field of puppetry. The practice of puppetryand the place bestowed on the human form in staging devices are the starting point of the study. Located at theconvergence of animated figures and of computer graphics, contemporary staging devices that stem from newtechniques of sound and video have allowed us to surpass the traditional framework of the puppet. Halfwaybetween doll and refined figure, the puppet goes beyond its outline and opens the path towards new stagerepresentations; shadows and virtual doubles, CGI avatars, which can all be transformed and developed in realtime. All its representations beg the question of incarnation. Thus the face of the avatar is presented as apossible extension of the puppet. Technological tools allow new ways of devising and developing the face. Theyoffer infinite possibilities to divide the face, to multiply and replicate it. In this repetitive gesture, the facetends gradually to be effaced of its outlines. Far from the anthropomorphic figure, it symbolises here an ideamost often, a concept, a word that underscores the essence of the material and the visual arrangement of objectsand matter. As for the potential splitting of the performer achieved thanks to new technology in video andsound, the living boy in flesh and blood multiples as shadows, reflections and virtual doubles. The latterbecome a sign, an icon of our presence. Spatial and corporeal duplication of their iconic presence makes thenumerous subterfuges involved in a staging device sparkle. Because this new figure, built from simulatedreality games and digital lures, gradually erases the traditional contours of the human form by blurring thepaths to any tangible identification. These new forms are presented as staggered images and are a realinvitation to rethinking absence and presence, appearance and disappearance. The face/form is exposed tomultiple interpretations and offers a deferred vision by questioning the place of the human being in our society. Staging devices that shelter these forms become a true iconostasis for their demonstration. The face –the space belonging to the fiction of the gaze – incessantly makes and breaks its outlines by throwing up itsimage to those who watch him. The viewer is invited to undergo an ocular experience by transforming it into atrue act of seeing.

La schizophrénie est considérée comme l'un des troubles psychiatriques les plus invalidants. L'une des principales raisons de ce fardeau élevé est qu'une grande partie des patients atteints de schizophrénie ne répondent pas adéquatement aux traitements pharmacologiques de première ligne et continueront de souffrir d’hallucinations auditives. La présence de celles-ci peut avoir un effet dévastateur sur le bien-être émotionnel des patients ainsi que sur leur qualité de vie. Les alternatives non-pharmacologiques (ex., Thérapie cognitivo-comportementale (TCC)) demeurent aussi limitées. Ainsi, pour plusieurs patients, les traitements actuellement recommandés ne sont pas suffisants. À cet égard, le traitement de la schizophrénie peut être perfectionné si, en plus du traitement des symptômes, l'accent thérapeutique est mis sur d’autres sphères importantes pour les patients (ex., améliorer l’estime de soi, réguler les émotions). Les efforts visant à accroître l'efficacité et les bénéfices des psychothérapies fondées sur des preuves ont mené à l'émergence d'interventions basées sur la réalité virtuelle (RV). Avec ces progrès technologiques, AVATAR Therapy et l’adaptation faite par notre équipe, la Thérapie assistée par la Réalité Virtuelle (TRV) (ou communément nommé la Thérapie Avatar (TA)), permettent aux patients d’entrer en dialogue en temps réel avec un avatar, animé entièrement par le thérapeute, qui représente leur voix la plus persécutrice. Cette approche, à la fois relationnelle et expérientielle, offre une occasion unique d’aider les patients à prendre le contrôle de leur voix. Cette thèse a pour objectif principal d’évaluer l’efficacité de cette psychothérapie basée sur la RV ainsi que les thèmes abordés durant et après la thérapie. Pour arriver à cette fin, divers objectifs ont été mis à l’avant : (i) résumer l'état des preuves sur l'efficacité des interventions basées sur la RV pour les troubles psychiatriques, (ii) évaluer l'efficacité de la TA/TRV par rapport à la TCC, (iii) illustrer l’efficacité de la thérapie à travers la perspective de patients ayant montré des effets bénéfiques, et (iv) explorer les thèmes émergeants ainsi que les processus thérapeutiques de la TA/TRV. Dans la première section, deux recensions des écritsdans diverses bases de données ont été effectuées pour examiner l’efficacité des psychothérapies basées sur la RV. Notre méta-revue (c’est-à-dire revue de méta-analyse) incluant 11 méta-analyses et 41 tailles d'effet a montré des résultats positifs de la RV dans le traitement des troubles psychiatriques, principalement des troubles anxieux. Les interventions basées sur la RV sont meilleures que le traitement usuel et montrent généralement des effets similaires par rapport aux approches fondées sur des preuves. Les résultats préliminaires suggèrent également que les effets de la RV se maintiennent dans le temps. Par contre, de nombreux symptômes et troubles psychiatriques qui peuvent être traités par des interventions utilisant RV n'ont pu être examinés par une analyse méta-analytique, en particulier les symptômes psychotiques (ex., hallucinations auditives) et les comportements liés à l'agressivité (ex., régulation émotionnelle). Ainsi, notre seconde revue a montré qu’il existe un nombre limité de paradigmes basés sur la RV pour traiter les individus atteints de troubles psychotiques et autres troubles mentaux à risque de comportements agressifs. Les études préliminaires dans des populations autres que la schizophrénie ont montré des réductions de la colère et de l'impulsivité, des améliorations des capacités de résolution des conflits ainsi que des niveaux d'empathie et des diminutions de l'agressivité. En ce qui a trait aux interventions basées sur la RV pour la schizophrénie, des réductions par rapport aux délires et aux hallucinations auditives ont été trouvées. Dans la seconde section, deux essais cliniques ont été menés pour évaluer l’efficacité de la TA/TRV seule en comparaison avec la TCC et en combinaison avec la TCC (TCC+TA/TRV). Notre essai randomisé comparant la TA/TRV à la TCC a compris 37 participants de plus de 18 ans entendant des voix persécutives et souffrant de schizophrénie résistante aux traitements dans chacun des groupes. Les résultats principaux ont montré que les deux interventions ont produit des améliorations significatives sur la sévérité des symptômes hallucinatoires avec des effets plus prononcés pour la TA/TRV. De plus, les résultats suggèrent une supériorité de la TA/TRV par rapport à la TCC sur les symptômes affectifs. La TA/TRV a également montré des effets positifs sur la qualité de vie. Les effets ont été maintenus à long terme, soit jusqu'à un an de suivi. Notre preuve de concept sur 10 patients ayant suivi la TCC de notre essai clinique comparatif qui souhaitaient continuer à obtenir des améliorations avec la TA/TRV a montré que les effets de la TCC+TA/TRV sur les symptômes dépressifs et les symptômes de la schizophrénie étaient plus larges que ceux trouvés pour l'une ou l'autre des interventions uniques. La troisième section a pour but de détailler les cas de 2 patients ayant suivi la TA/TRV. D’abord, nous avons décrit un partenariat entre un utilisateur de services en santé mentale et des chercheurs cliniciens en mettant en vedette M. X, le premier patient à suivre la thérapie. Nous avons ainsi montré l’apport de monsieur X quant à ses suggestions d’amélioration de la thérapie et ensuite en tant que notre pair aidant pour les futurs patients, dans son cheminement vers le rétablissement. Ensuite, nous avions rapporté le cas d'un patient atteint d’une schizophrénie ultra-résistante, soit M. Smith, qui n'a pas répondu à plusieurs traitements antipsychotiques, à la stimulation magnétique transcrânienne répétitive et à la thérapie par électrochocs avant de participer à notre essai. De plus, le patient a terminé notre TCC avant de se voir proposer notre TA/TRV. Cette dernière intervention a montré les effets les plus positifs. Or, ces deux cas ont montré que la thérapie a aidé non seulement à diminuer leurs symptômes, mais aussi à améliorer leur qualité de vie. La quatrième section a pour objectif d’explorer les thèmes émergents de la TA/TRV suite à des analyses de contenu. Ainsi, suite à une analyse qualitative découlant du discours spontané de 10 patients ayant bien répondu à la TA/TRV, quatre thèmes généraux ont émergé : impact de la thérapie sur les voix, relations interpersonnelles, bien-être psychologique et mode de vie. Cette analyse de contenu a permis d’identifier plusieurs sphères de vie qui sont davantage améliorées chez les patients ayant une schizophrénie résistante aux traitements à l’aide de la TA/TRV. Deux autres analyses qualitatives ont été conduites pour approfondir nos connaissances sur les processus thérapeutiques de la TA/TRV. Celles-ci ont permis de montrer que les patients répondent au propos de l’avatar en utilisant des mécanismes d'adaptation ou en exprimant des émotions, des croyances, des perceptions de soi ou des aspirations. Le discours de l'avatar a pu être catégorisé en techniques de confrontation (ex., provocation) et en techniques positives (ex., renforcement). Grâce à l'identification de changements mutuels dans l'interaction entre le patient et son avatar, un changement a été observé au fil des séances de la confrontation vers un dialogue constructif. L'affirmation de soi, les réponses émotionnelles et les stratégies de prévention semblaient être au cœur du processus thérapeutique, et celles-ci se produisent généralement en réponse à des techniques positives. Cette thèse contribue à la validation d’une nouvelle approche thérapeutique répondant à un besoin clinique fondamental. Ainsi, la TA/TRV met en lumière l'avenir des approches adaptées aux patients qui peuvent présenter des avantages par rapport aux traitements conventionnels. Ces types d’interventions holistiques utilisant la RV pourraient aussi présenter des avenues prometteuses dans plusieurs autres troubles psychiatriques. / Schizophrenia is considered one of the most debilitating psychiatric disorders. One of the main reasons for this high burden is that a large proportion of patients with schizophrenia do not respond adequately to first-line pharmacological treatments and will continue to suffer from auditory hallucinations. The presence of these symptoms can have a devastating effect on the emotional well-being of patients as well as their quality of life. Non-pharmacological alternatives (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)) also remain limited. Thus, for many patients, the treatments currently recommended are not sufficient. In this regard, the treatment of schizophrenia may be improved if, in addition to the treatment of symptoms, therapeutic emphasis is placed on other areas of importance to patients (e.g., improving self-esteem, emotion regulation). Efforts to increase the effectiveness and benefits of evidence-based psychotherapies have led to the emergence of virtual reality (VR)-based interventions. With these technological advances, AVATAR Therapy and its related innovative form from our team, Virtual Reality Assisted Therapy (VRT) (or commonly Avatar Therapy (AT)), allow patients to enter a real-time dialogue with an avatar, animated entirely by the therapist, who represents their most persecutory voice. This approach, both relational and experiential, offers a unique opportunity to help patients take control of their voice. The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of this psychotherapy based on VR as well as the themes addressed during and after the therapy. To achieve this end, various objectives have been put forward: (i) summarize the state of the evidence on the effectiveness of VR-based interventions for psychiatric disorders, (ii) assess the effectiveness of AT/VRT versus CBT, (iii) obtain the perspective of patients who have undergone AT/TRV, (iv) explore the therapeutic processes of AT/VRT. In the first section, two literature reviews in various databases were performed to examine the effectiveness of VR-based psychotherapies. Our meta-review including 11 meta-analyzes and 41 effect sizes showed positive results of VR in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, mainly anxiety disorders. VR-based interventions appear better than inactive controls and generally show similar effects compared to evidence-based approaches. Preliminary results also suggest that the effects of VR are sustained over time. On the other hand, many psychiatric symptoms and disorders that can be treated with interventions using VR have not been examined by a meta-analytical analysis, including psychotic symptoms (e.g., auditory hallucinations) and related behaviors. aggression (e.g., emotional regulation). Thus, our second review showed that there are a limited number of VR-based paradigms for treating individuals with psychotic disorders and other mental disorders at risk for aggressive behavior. Preliminary studies in populations other than schizophrenia have shown reductions in anger and impulsivity, improvements in conflict resolution skills as well as levels of empathy and decreases in aggression. Particularly related to VR interventions for schizophrenia, reductions in delusions and auditory hallucinations were found. In the second section, two clinical trials were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of AT/VRT alone in comparison with CBT and in combination with CBT (CBT+TA/VRT). Our randomized trial comparing AT/VRT to CBT included 37 participants over 18 years of age hearing persecutory voices and suffering from treatment-resistant schizophrenia in each group. The main results showed that the two interventions produced significant improvements in the severity of hallucinatory symptoms with more pronounced effects for AT/VRT. In addition, the results suggest that AT/VRT is superior to CBT on affective symptoms. AT/VRT has also shown positive effects on quality of life. The effects were maintained for up to one year of follow-up. Our proof of concept on 10 patients having followed CBT from our comparative clinical trial who wanted to continue to achieve improvements with AT/VRT showed that the effects of CBT+AT/VRT on depressive symptoms and symptoms of schizophrenia were broader than those found for either intervention alone. The third section details the cases of 2 patients who had followed AT/VRT. First, we described a partnership between a mental health service user and clinical researchers by featuring Mr. X, the first to follow therapy for his suggestions and our peer helper for future patients, on his journey to the recovery. Next, we reported the case of a patient with ultra-resistant schizophrenia, Mr. Smith, who failed to respond to multiple antipsychotic treatments, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, and electroconvulsive therapy before participating in our trial. In addition, this patient completed our CBT before being offered AT/VRT. The latter intervention showed the most positive effects. These two cases showed that AT/VRT not only helped to decrease their symptoms, but also to improve their quality of life. The fourth section aimed to explore emerging themes of AT/VRT following content analyses. Thus, following a qualitative analysis resulting from the spontaneous speech of 10 patients who responded well to AT/VRT, four general themes emerged: impact of therapy on voices, interpersonal relationships, psychological well-being and lifestyle. This content analysis identified several areas of life that are further improved in patients with treatment resistant schizophrenia after having followed AT/VRT. Two other qualitative analyses were carried out to deepen our knowledge of the therapeutic processes of AT/VRT. These have shown that patients respond to the avatar's words by using a coping mechanism or by expressing emotions, beliefs, self-perceptions or aspirations. The avatar's discourse could be categorized into confrontational techniques (e.g., provocation) and positive techniques (e.g., reinforcement). With the identification of mutual changes in the interaction between the patient and their avatar, a shift was observed over therapy sessions from confrontation towards a constructive dialogue. Assertiveness, emotional responses, and prevention strategies seemed to be central to the therapeutic process, and these usually occurred in response to positive techniques. This thesis contributes to the validation of a new therapeutic approach responding to a fundamental clinical need. Thus, AT/VRT shines a light on the future of patient-oriented approaches that may have advantages over conventional treatments. These types of holistic interventions using VR may have notable applications in several other psychiatric disorders.