NCT07206199

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

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy in Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Outpatients

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (estimated)
• Sponsor: National Institute of Mental Health, Czech Republic · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 55 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study focuses on patients receiving treatment in outpatient psychiatry or clinical psychology settings, utilizing a within-subject design for comparison. Patients first complete informed consent and baseline questionnaires and are placed on a waiting list for five weeks. After this period, they are reassigned to the active (experimental) group, which will receive five sessions of exposure therapy in virtual reality over a subsequent five-week period. The treatment effect will be evaluated using pre/post assessments, as well as monitoring adherence to exposure and response prevention assignments.

Detailed description

The virtual environment of so called "OCD house" is used as a tool for the therapy. Immersive VR glasses Meta Quest 2 are used to visualize the environment. During exposure therapy, relevant virtual stimuli can be freely combined involving common objects and situations in the home that may trigger OCD symptoms and hoarding. Target stimuli (VR elements) are divided into several sets corresponding to OCD subtypes. During the session, the therapist can modify the level of difficulty via four standardized levels according to the individual needs of clients. The therapeutic application enables direct interaction with stimuli in the environment of the virtual house and garden, thanks to hand tracking. The hand tracking and hand gestures are used also to control the movement in the environment by the patients, but direct head and body rotations and small movements are enabled by the VR headset. The psychotherapist can follow the patient actions and control the settings of the environment (e.g.selection of relevant stimuli, level of difficulty) using a streaming app on the tablet or a mobile phone and advise the patient where necessary. The level of difficulty is gradually increased during the progress of the therapy.

Conditions

• Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	exposure therapy in virtual reality	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.
OTHER	Wait list	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.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-03-20
• Primary completion: 2026-12-30
• Completion: 2027-03-31
• First posted: 2025-10-03
• Last updated: 2025-10-03

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Czechia