NEWS ARTICLE
Virtual dirt, real impact: AR app makes OCD treatment more accessible
Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the most disabling psychiatric diagnoses, yet many patients wait a long time for treatment. The researchers behind ZeroOCD aim to meet this need with a new solution: an AR app that brings exposure therapy directly into the home.
The idea behind ZeroOCD (funded by Forte) is simple but powerful: if patients can face their triggers where they actually occur – at the bathroom sink, the kitchen counter, or in their own home – the treatment can become both more relevant and more accessible.
Project leader Per Carlbring, professor of psychology at Stockholm University, describes the technology as a way to lower the threshold for an otherwise demanding form of therapy.
– Augmented reality (AR) makes it possible to overlay virtual dirt and bacteria stimuli directly onto the patient’s real environment, in real time through their mobile camera.
Many patients find it easier to approach virtual stimuli than their real-life counterparts, especially at the beginning of treatment. At the same time, the body reacts as if it were real. This means exposure can begin earlier without losing effectiveness.
Per Carlbring, Professor of Psychology at Stockholm University, uses VR goggles in his research.
Treatment where the problems actually occur
Exposure therapy involves gradually approaching what triggers anxiety, without performing compulsive behaviors. In traditional care, this often takes place in clinics or during planned home visits. But many OCD triggers appear spontaneously in everyday life. This is precisely why ZeroOCD can offer something today’s care models struggle to match: real-time treatment, in real-life environments, without a therapist needing to be physically present.
When patients tested the app in the project’s first phase, they liked being able to remain in their daily environment while receiving clear remote support, Per explains. He emphasizes that the technology must be very easy to use:
– We see how important user-friendly design and careful guidance are for ensuring that the technology is actually used as intended.
Effective treatment that can scale
One of the project’s main goals is to determine whether AR-based treatment can be at least as effective as today’s digital CBT via video – while being much easier to scale. All participants receive treatment at home for ten weeks, regardless of the method they use. To measure how much improvement occurs without intervention, there is also a control group made up of patients on a waiting list.
– By studying how patients on the waiting list are doing, we can see what improvement occurs without treatment. And by comparing the two active treatments, we can determine whether AR adds something that existing digital support does not.
If ZeroOCD works as the researchers hope, the app could provide access to treatment that has previously required significant therapist resources. In the future, some patients may manage with an almost fully automated treatment, while others receive more frequent support – a model that both frees up time and expands access to care.
AR makes it possible to overlay virtual dirt and bacteria stimuli directly onto the patient’s real environment, in real time through the mobile camera.
Per Carlbring
Professor of Psychology at Stockholm University
Is healthcare keeping up with the future?
But treatment effect is only one part of the project. The researchers are also studying why digital innovations often stall before they reach healthcare systems, even when they work well. In Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, they interview patients, clinicians, and policymakers about everything from technical infrastructure and costs to security and responsibility. Here, the questions are as much about organization and governance as psychology.
The goal is to understand how AR-based treatment can actually be integrated into different healthcare systems, not just how well it works in a study.
– Smartphone-based AR apps can increase accessibility, reduce waiting times, and eventually free up resources – if we can show strong treatment effects and cost-effectiveness across different healthcare systems, says Per.
ZeroOCD is being developed primarily for individuals with OCD, but the researchers see potential far beyond this group. Exposure therapy is widely used in the treatment of anxiety, phobias, social anxiety, and aspects of PTSD. AR technology could be adapted for all of these conditions.
– If ZeroOCD demonstrates strong treatment effects and cost-effectiveness, it could be an important step toward more scalable, individualized treatment – and we also see great potential to adapt the concept to other anxiety-related conditions, he concludes.
The ZeroOCD project
ZeroOCD is developing and evaluating an innovative smartphone app that uses augmented reality to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder, in a collaboration involving four European countries.
The study is funded through the European partnership Transforming Health and Care Systems (THCS), in which Forte participates.
Read more about ZeroOCD and register for the study on Stockholm University’s website External link. (in Swedish).
Michelle Bornestad (English translation by Forte)
