{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]],"date-time":"2026-07-31T08:04:07Z","timestamp":1785485047734,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,6]],"date-time":"2023-05-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1683331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Le Fonds de recherche du Qu\u00e9bec\u2014Sant\u00e9 (FRQS)"},{"name":"Otsuka Canada Pharmaceutical Inc."},{"name":"Chaire Eli Lilly Canada de recherche en schizophr\u00e9nie, MEI (Minist\u00e8re de l\u2019\u00c9conomie et de l\u2019Innovation), Services et recherches psychiatriques AD"},{"name":"Fonds d\u2019excellence en recherche Apog\u00e9e Canada (Institut de la Valorisation des Donn\u00e9es IVADO)"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JPM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>(1) Background: The therapeutic mechanisms underlying psychotherapeutic interventions for individuals with treatment-resistant schizophrenia are mostly unknown. One of these treatment techniques is avatar therapy (AT), in which the patient engages in immersive sessions while interacting with an avatar representing their primary persistent auditory verbal hallucination. The aim of this study was to conduct an unsupervised machine-learning analysis of verbatims of treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients that have followed AT. The second aim of the study was to compare the data clusters obtained from the unsupervised machine-learning analysis with previously conducted qualitative analysis. (2) Methods: A k-means algorithm was performed over the immersive-session verbatims of 18 patients suffering from treatment-resistant schizophrenia who followed AT to cluster interactions of the avatar and the patient. Data were pre-processed using vectorization and data reduction. (3): Results: Three clusters of interactions were identified for the avatar\u2019s interactions whereas four clusters were identified for the patient\u2019s interactions. (4) Conclusion: This study was the first attempt to conduct unsupervised machine learning on AT and provided a quantitative insight into the inner interactions that take place during immersive sessions. The use of unsupervised machine learning could yield a better understanding of the type of interactions that take place in AT and their clinical implications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jpm13050801","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,8]],"date-time":"2023-05-08T03:34:53Z","timestamp":1683516893000},"page":"801","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Unsupervised Machine Learning Driven Analysis of Verbatims of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia Patients Having Followed Avatar Therapy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4868-0928","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandre","family":"Hudon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre de Recherche de l\u2019Institut Universitaire en Sant\u00e9 Mentale de Montr\u00e9al, Montreal, QC H1N 3J4, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Faculty of Medicine, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0169-8055","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"M\u00e9lissa","family":"Beaudoin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre de Recherche de l\u2019Institut Universitaire en Sant\u00e9 Mentale de Montr\u00e9al, Montreal, QC H1N 3J4, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Faculty of Medicine, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3113-9104","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kingsada","family":"Phraxayavong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre de Recherche de l\u2019Institut Universitaire en Sant\u00e9 Mentale de Montr\u00e9al, Montreal, QC H1N 3J4, Canada"},{"name":"Services et Recherches Psychiatriques AD, Montreal, QC H1C 1H1, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1624-378X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"St\u00e9phane","family":"Potvin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre de Recherche de l\u2019Institut Universitaire en Sant\u00e9 Mentale de Montr\u00e9al, Montreal, QC H1N 3J4, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Faculty of Medicine, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4480-0064","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandre","family":"Dumais","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre de Recherche de l\u2019Institut Universitaire en Sant\u00e9 Mentale de Montr\u00e9al, Montreal, QC H1N 3J4, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Faculty of Medicine, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada"},{"name":"Services et Recherches Psychiatriques AD, Montreal, QC H1C 1H1, Canada"},{"name":"Institut National de Psychiatrie L\u00e9gale Philippe-Pinel, Montreal, QC H1C 1H1, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Deng, S.Y., Wang, Y.Z., Peng, M.M., Zhang, T.M., Li, M., Luo, W., and Ran, M.S. 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