CleanScape: An Augmented Reality Intervention for Assessing and Treating Contamination-Based Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

作者：Yuxin Ji, Yilin Luo, Roujing Chen · 发表于：PRESENCE Virtual and Augmented Reality · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1162/pres_a_00443 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders、Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies、Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology

Abstract Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is evidence indicating a worsening of preexisting mental health conditions, with a notable focus on contamination-based Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Although Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) currently serves as the primary psychological intervention for OCD, substantial variability in treatment outcomes exists, marked by insufficient symptom improvement and noteworthy rates of refusal and attrition. These challenges are partly attributed to difficulties in realistically simulating intrusive thoughts within clinical settings. Augmented Reality (AR) emerges as a potential solution to address these limitations, offering the possibility to create controlled, anxiety-provoking scenarios. To evaluate the potential effectiveness of AR in treating contamination-based OCD, an experiment was conducted with 22 patients who underwent AR exposure and response prevention across five scenarios of varying severity. A control group of 22 patients participated in the same experiment concurrently. Both subjective and objective measures of distress were documented. Exposure to the virtual elements induced elevated levels of state anxiety in both groups, with significantly higher levels observed in the contamination-based OCD group. The results indicate that the developed AR scenarios effectively elicit emotional responses. Therefore, these scenarios can be utilized as a complementary approach in the treatment of contamination...