Personality, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and human computer interactions

The two most commonly used treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are antidepressant drugs and behaviour therapy in the form of exposure and response prevention. These treatments, while efficacious, have limitations such as high costs, side effects, and limited availability. The use of computers in the therapy process minimises some of the barriers traditional OCD treatments present, while providing benefits in their own right. Evidence suggests that computer-aided behaviour therapy programs may be a suitable adjunct to traditional client-therapist treatments. Computer-aided vicarious exposure (CA VE) programs not only deliver a therapy, but can also measure the interaction between the program user and components of therapy. The availability of computer treatments that can measure these interactions opens the way for research into variables that may influence a user's interaction with a treatment program. Individual personality characteristics are known to impact treatment outcome, however, there is little literature examining the relationship between personality variables and their impact on OCD treatment. Further research into the relationship between personality and OCD treatments, in particular computer treatments which measure user interaction with the program, can assist in identifying the components of therapy useful for people with different characteristics.