A PILOT-STUDY OF COMPUTER-AIDED VICARIOUS EXPOSURE FOR OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

Objective: This study reports the use of an interactive computer progr am to instruct vicarious exposure and ritual prevention for obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD). Method: Thirteen OCD volunteers and 10 non- OCD volunteers completed three 45-minute sessions at weekly intervals. Subjects with OCD completed the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), the Padua Inventory (PI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) 1 week prior to and 1 week after the three computer treatment se ssions. Non-OCD subjects only completed these measures at baseline, al lowing confirmation that they had no significant level of OCD symptoma tology. Results: In the OCD subjects, scores fell significantly on the PI and BDI, and Y-BOCS scores fell non-significantly. Engagement in v icarious exposure with ritual prevention improved from sessions 1-3. C ompared to the non-OCD participants, OCD subjects did less vicarious e xposure in session 1 but not sessions 2 and 3. Performance of vicariou s exposure by OCD subjects in session 1 correlated with pre-post impro vement in PI and BDI scores. Conclusions: The vicarious exposure progr am may have a role to play as an adjunct in behaviour therapy.