Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Inpatients

Sponsor
National Institute of Mental Health, Czech Republic
Study ID
NCT07245134
Status
Recruiting
Apply to this trial

Conditions

  • Cognitive Behavior Therapy
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  • Virtual Reality Cognitive Training
  • Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
17 Years - 55 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Exposure Therapy (Virtual Reality) — BEHAVIORAL
    Virtual reality scenarios consists of exposures to OCD symptom provoking stimuli and response prevention (e.g. having dirty hands without washing them immediately) with the support of the therapist. The goal of VRET is sufficient reduction in anxiety and acceleration of progress in classical CBT.
  • Cognitive flexibility training — BEHAVIORAL
    Participants play series of various cognitive games previously developed in NIMH aimed at cognitive flexibility. Games are presented using immersive VR (HTC vive headset). The set includes for instance Go/No-go paradigm with a shooting range addressing inhibitory control, Flies - hit a fly game addressing set-shifting and Castle game addressing spatial memory and reversal learning.
  • Standard CBT program without VR interventions — BEHAVIORAL
    Standart CBT program (performed in all groups). The program involves regular group and individual psychotherapy sessions 5 days per 6 weeks.

Study Details

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Participants are randomly assigned to one of the following interventions: a) exposure condition - the group with a standard CBT program enriched with exposure therapy in VR (VRET), b) control condition 1 - the group with a standard CBT program enriched with VR cognitive training aimed at cognitive flexibility or c) control condition 2 - standard CBT program without any additional VR intervention. The treatment effect will be evaluated using pre/post assessments, as well as monitoring adherence to exposure and response prevention assignments.

Key Dates

First listed
Nov 24, 2025
Start date
Nov 15, 2022
Status verified
Sep 2025
Primary completion
Dec 30, 2026
Completion
Dec 30, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
62 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT

Arms

  • Experimental: Virtual reality exposure
    Participants complete 6-week CBT program with five 30-40-minute sessions of exposure administered via a virtual reality headset (once a week). The intervention involves exposure to various symptom provoking scenarios in the virtual house environment - "OCD house". Scenarios can be adjusted to distinct OCD dimensions: contamination/cleaning, fear-of-harm/checking, symmetry/ordering. Stimuli can be also freely combined across dimensions, so that the scenarios fit to individual needs.
  • Active Comparator: Cognitive flexibility training
    Control group attends 6-week CBT program with five sessions of 30-40 minutes of cognitive training via virtual reality headset using "VRcity" cognitive training games.
  • Active Comparator: Standard CBT without additional VR treatment
    Control group completes the standard 6-week CBT program only, with no VR sessions.

Primary Outcome Measure

The Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) [ Time Frame: Applied repeatedly: 1) At the baseline - Before the start of the first therapy session (S1), 2) Post-intervention - after the last session (S5) and 3) 2 months after the last session in the follow-up measurement (subjective Y-BOCS). ]

Central Contacts

Related Studies