Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Outpatients Trial

Participants complete five 30-40-minute sessions of exposure therapy administered via a virtual reality headset once a week. The exposure involves exposure to various symptom-provoking scenarios in the virtual house environment. Scenarios can be adjusted to distinct OCD dimensions: contamination/cleaning, fear-of-harm/checking symmetry/ordering, and also to symptoms of hoarding. Stimuli can be also freely combined across different dimensions, so that the scenarios fit the individual needs.

The patients are assigned to a waitlist period for 5 weeks. During this period they are not allowed to change any treatment (phramacotherapy and/or psychoterapy as usual) started prior to the trial.