VR therapy can be used in a number of ways to help people with OCD. A patient may choose to have a few sessions of VR therapy as part of a traditional course of ERP to help them prepare to face their triggers in a real-life setting. Their therapy may also be entirely VR-based, for example if their OCD involves a fear of flying and the cost of getting a flight is prohibitive. Far from being a poor relation to carrying out in-person exposure, Ward says the VR treatment can still have a significant impact on patients. “Clients are pleasantly surprised, they don’t realise that the VR is so real,” he says. “That’s the experience we want with the VR, it creates a sort of meta state where we’re able to think about our thinking and observe how the body is responding to a stimulus.”