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Ubiqutious Computing to Heal Our Compulsions

"In the US and Netherlands, one in 50 adults currently has OCD, and twice as many have had it at some point in their lives. How could ubicomp be instrumental here?

"Worries, doubts, and superstitious beliefs all are common in everyday life. However, when they become so excessive, such as hours of hand washing, or make no sense at all, such as driving around and around the block to check that an accident didn't occur, then a diagnosis of OCD is made. In OCD, it is as though the brain gets stuck on a particular thought or urge and just can't let go. People with OCD often say the symptoms feel like a case of mental hiccups that won't go away." - The Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation

"A group of researchers performed experiments and concluded that "the OCD [Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder] group performed significantly worse than controls in the temporal ordering task despite showing normal recognition memory. Patients were also impaired in "feeling-of-doing" judgments, suggesting they have a lack of self-awareness of their performance.

"A three-phase approach has been offered when Phase 1 can assess if a person has a tendency for audio, visual, tactile, or other kinds of feedback that would signal the task scenario's closure, Phase 2 will access if visual feedback on clothing or another appliance could break the chain of repetition for a person, and Phase 3 will finally test whether such ubiquitous computing applications could break the loop of repetition, assuming that it is the kind of feedback that is responsible for the taskloop's nonclosure.

- Rob van Kranenburg, UbiComp to Provide Feedback for People With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder