Virtual reality assessment for obsessive compulsive disorder: a review

Abstract

The use of advance computer-based technology is becoming necessary to address the growing complexity of human problems and enhance effective communication. The recent pandemic COVID-19 not only induces many morbidities and mortalities but also intensifies mental health problem worldwide. Due to the increasing benefits of virtual reality (VR) in addressing medical condition, it is believed that VR can be used as a diagnostic tool to assess numerous medical conditions and psychiatric disorders. To date, there is still scarce evidence of VR as a diagnostic tool to assess obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). In this study, we had conducted a systematic review to investigate the use of VR as a diagnostic tool for OCD and assess its benefits and weaknesses in comparison to computer-assisted tools. Comprehensive searches of electronic databases including PubMed and Google Scholar were undertaken to discover peer review evidence of computer-based simulation tasks in detecting OCD symptoms. Twelve out of 9325 papers were screened and reviewed. Five articles reported on computerised tools and seven articles described VR tools. In comparison to computer-based tasks, VR is a promising assessment tool due to specific virtual environments and high resolutions which are able to induce anxiety symptoms. Despite numerous shortcomings, assessment can be utilised in computerised form to detect and generate a variety of psychiatry diagnoses among the general population. Although computerised assessment task and VR show promising results, the finding are uneven due to study design differences, wide variability content task use, small sample size, several methodological issue with the computerised tasks and lack of appropriate control groups. In conclusion, the choice to use computerisation or VR for OCD assessment will depend on aim, content, technical equipment and budget. More in-depth studies of these issues are required.