“I don’t know if I cleaned it properly” : Can we leverage smartphone-based solutions to deliver evidence-based treatment for OCD in everyday environments?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by persistent obsessions and/or compulsions, significantly impacting daily functioning, and imposing high economic costs. Despite the availability of evidence-based treatments, many OCD patients do not receive adequate care due to barriers related to affordability, accessibility, and scalability. This presentation will demonstrate how technology can be leveraged to deliver evidence-based treatment to OCD patients in their everyday environment. Alongside the overview of current state-of-the-art Internet-based treatments for OCD, a novel intervention, ZeroOCD, will be presented. ZeroOCD is a smartphone-based augmented reality (AR) therapy that combines conventional exposure and ritual prevention principles with CBT techniques in an effort to ameliorate OCD symptoms. Its focus is on facilitating the treatment and reduction of contamination-related symptoms (e.g., fear of dirt, germs, bodily fluids)—the most common subtype of OCD. Several technology-based self-help tools for OCD are available (e.g., smartphone apps and bibliotherapy). However, many of these self-help tools, particularly commercially available smartphone apps, still lack empirical support. In contrast, evidence-based Internet-delivered treatments for OCD like the Karolinska ICBT program show promise. Still, even these interventions face scalability limitations as therapists must allocate time to provide individualized feedback to each patient. While effective, evidence-based treatments exist, many patients do not receive them due to barriers such as a shortage of specialized therapists, stigma, long waiting lists, and high costs. Worse still, only about 50% achieve remission with current state-of-the-art treatments for OCD. ZeroOCD offers a promising approach by providing AR to deliver accessible, scalable, and ecologically valid treatment for OCD once fully automated (i.e., available in app stores with no therapist time needed).