Using VR for Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

With the publication of the fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th). Washington, DC, 2013), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was moved from the anxiety disorders section to form a new diagnostic category called obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. This change fits better with the concept of a spectrum of disorders related to OCD. This section of the DSM-5 includes OCD, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), hoarding disorder, trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder), excoriation (skin-picking) disorder, and several variations on OCD-related conditions induced by substance, medication, medical conditions and variations on OCD-related conditions that do not precisely fit the diagnostic criteria. OCD is also in a category of its own, separated from phobic anxiety and other anxiety disorders, in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10, WHO - World Health Organization World health statistics. Geneva: WHO Press, 2010). No matter which classification OCD falls under, it is considered a severe and chronic mental disorder affecting between two and three percent of the general population and causing significant social and functional impairments. (American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th). Washington, DC, 2013; Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, & Walters EE Arch Gen Psychiatry, 62(6):593–602, 2005a; Kessler R, Chiu W, Demler O, & Walters E Arch Gen Psychiatry, 62(6):617–627, 2005b; Leon AC, Portera L, & Weissman MM British J Psychiatry, 166(27):19–22, 1995).