Grant: Project Grant

Negative symptoms, including the loss of motivation and reduced emotional expression, have emerged as highly prevalent and critical symptoms in schizophrenia. Among these, the loss of motivation is a key contributor to the enduring functional disability affected individuals experience. Despite advances in treatment, there are no effective treatments for these motivation deficits, which ultimately hinders recovery for individuals with schizophrenia. To address this critical unmet therapeutic need, this study aims to investigate the use of virtual reality motivation training to treat these motivation deficits early in the course of schizophrenia. We anticipate the results of this study will provide the first evidence supporting the efficacy of this virtual reality treatment for individuals with schizophrenia, both in terms of improving motivation and community functioning, as well as the brain circuitry that supports motivated behaviour.