Links for Keyword: OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition The notion that a strict, possibly even God-fearing, upbringing may contribute to obsessive-compulsive disorder has been boosted by a survey which discovered that devout Catholics were more likely to show symptoms than less religious people. Patients with OCD get caught in a vicious mental cycle that can take over and cripple their everyday lives. For instance, a sufferer may become convinced that everything around them is dirty, and in extreme cases spend up to eight hours a day cleaning in a bid to banish the thought. The causes of the disorder, which affects at least five million Americans and a million Britons, are still obscure. But genes, upbringing, head injuries and emotional trauma have all been implicated. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 2168 - Posted: 06.24.2010

© 2002 Psychiatric Times. All rights reserved. by Stefano Erzegovesi, M.D. Psychiatric Times May 2002 Vol. XIX Issue 5 Over the past decade, reports about obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have gradually moved from the traditional and somewhat pessimistic points of view to a more defined and optimistic line of research: the "rare and intractable illness" has now become a paradigm for valid hypotheses in neurobiology and clinical psychopharmacology. Data in the literature support the so-called "serotonin (5-HT) hypothesis" of OCD (Barr et al., 1992): peripheral markers of serotonin function (Bastani et al., 1991), pharmacologic challenge studies with serotonin agonists (Erzegovesi et al., 2001b) and, above all, drug-response data from serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) (Greist et al., 1995). According to the serotonin hypothesis, patients with OCD have a dysregulation in the serotonergic system, with a hypersensitivity of postsynaptic 5-HT receptors, which could account for a different mechanism of action of SRIs in OCD (Billett et al., 1997; Zohar et al., 1987). For example, onset of therapeutic action is 10 to 12 weeks in OCD, compared to three to four weeks for mood disorders.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 2022 - Posted: 06.24.2010

The Internet May Attract Those Who Try To Hide Gambling Behaviors WASHINGTON - People who use the internet to gamble may have more serious gambling problems than those who use slot machines or play the lottery, according to a new study that is among the first to evaluate the prevalence of internet gambling. The study warns that the explosive growth of the internet will likely lead to more on-line gambling opportunities and the health and emotional difficulties that come with gambling disorders, including substance abuse, circulatory disease, depression and risky sexual behaviors. The findings are reported on in the March issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, a journal of the American Psychological Association (APA). Psychologists George T. Ladd, Ph.D., and Nancy M. Petry, Ph.D., of the University of Connecticut Health Center surveyed the gambling behaviors of 389 people seeking free or reduced-cost dental or health care at the university's health clinics. Results show that nearly 11 percent were found to be problem gamblers and over 15 percent met the criteria for pathological gamblers. The most common forms of gambling reported by the participants were lottery (89%), slot machines (82%) and scratch tickets (79%). Next came card-playing forms of gambling (71%), sports betting (57%), bingo (56%) and animal betting (53%). Internet gambling was reported by just over eight percent or 31 of the participants and 14 of those people reported gambling on the internet at least weekly. © PsycNET 2002 American Psychological Association

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 1712 - Posted: 06.24.2010

Brain scans may be able to reveal which people are at genetic risk of developing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), researchers say. Individuals with OCD and their close relatives have distinctive patterns in their brain structure, a team at Cambridge University found. The genes responsible remain unknown, but it appears they change the brain's anatomy, which may aid diagnosis. The study is published in the latest edition of the journal Brain. OCD is an anxiety disorder in which the person is compelled by irrational fears and thoughts to repeat seemingly needless actions over and over again. It can manifest itself in repetitive behaviours, such as excessive hand washing, cleaning or repeated checking, affects 2%-3% of the population and is known to run in families. Using magnetic resonance imaging, the Cambridge researchers scanned the brains of nearly 100 people, including some with OCD and some who were close relatives of individuals with OCD. Participants also completed a computerised test that involved pressing a left or right button as quickly as possible when arrows appeared. When a beep noise sounded, volunteers had to attempt to stop their responses. The aim was to objectively measure ability to stop repetitive behaviours. Both OCD patients and their close relatives fared worse on the computer task than the control group. This was associated with decreases of grey matter in brain regions important in suppressing responses and habits - the orbitofrontal and right inferior frontal regions. Researcher Lara Menzies said: "Impaired brain function in the areas of the brain associated with stopping motor responses may contribute to the compulsive and repetitive behaviours that are characteristic of OCD. (C)BBC

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders; Chapter 2: Functional Neuroanatomy: The Cells and Structure of the Nervous System
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders; Chapter 1: Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System
Link ID: 11006 - Posted: 11.26.2007

By Arran Frood "Doc, I am ready to play ball." It had been years since Jeff (not his real name) had touched a basketball. Living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Jeff feared contamination from dirt and germs which prevented any part of his body from touching the ground, save for the soles of his shoes. But whilst taking part in a small clinical study to investigate the effects of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in 'magic' mushrooms, on people with OCD, Jeff's bare feet lay on the floor and he expressed a willingness to engage in an activity, playing with a ball, that just hours before he would have been considered abhorrent. Although Jeff's symptoms gradually returned, other patients also experienced transient relief from their OCD symptoms and one entered an extended period of remission lasting more than six months. Lead researcher Dr Francis Moreno, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona, Tucson, said: "I really think that participating in the study influenced the patient's remission." It was the first to investigate the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin to be published for more than 30 years. But critics say the study's flawed methodology means that conclusions cannot be made about the drug's efficacy against OCD, and some question whether it should have taken place at all. Professor Jeremy Schwartz, of the University of California, Los Angeles, said: "This study is going to receive a lot of attention and it will create a desire on behalf of a patient population that is suffering and hoping for a 'magic bullet'." (C)BBC

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders; Chapter 4: The Chemistry of Behavior: Neurotransmitters and Neuropharmacology
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders; Chapter 3: The Chemistry of Behavior: Neurotransmitters and Neuropharmacology
Link ID: 9736 - Posted: 12.12.2006

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Obsessive-compulsive disorder tends to run in families, causing members of several generations to experience severe anxiety and disturbing thoughts that they ease by repeating certain behaviors. In fact, close relatives of people with OCD are up to nine times more likely to develop OCD themselves. Now, new research is shedding new light on one of the genetic factors that may contribute to that pattern. And while no one gene "causes" OCD, the research is helping scientists confirm the importance of a particular gene that has been suspected to play a major role in OCD's development. In two papers published simultaneously in the Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Chicago and the University of Toronto report finding an association between OCD patients and a glutamate transporter gene called SLC1A1. The gene encodes a protein called EAAC1 that regulates the flow of a substance called glutamate in and out of brain cells. So, variations in the gene might lead to alterations in that flow, perhaps putting a person at increased risk of developing OCD. The new findings are especially important not only because of the simultaneous discoveries reported in the papers, but also because of previous studies that show a functional link between glutamate and OCD. Brain imaging and spinal fluid studies have shown differences in the glutamate system between OCD patients and healthy volunteers, including in areas of the brain where the EAAC1 protein is most common.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 9180 - Posted: 07.28.2006

A federally funded team of researchers including several from Johns Hopkins have identified six regions of the human genome that might play a role in susceptibility to obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD. The study was published online June 6 in Molecular Psychiatry. "OCD once was thought to be primarily psychological in origin," says Yin Yao Shugart, Ph.D., statistical geneticist and associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "But now there is growing evidence that there is a genetic basis behind OCD, which will help us better understand the condition," she says. OCD is characterized by intrusive and senseless thoughts and impulses that together are defined as obsessions, as well as repetitive and intentional behaviors, referred to as compulsions. OCD is estimated to affect up to 3 percent of the American population. In what the research team describes as the first whole-genome scan to look for genetic "markers" or similarities in the genomes of people with OCD, results identified six potentially significant regions in the genome, which lie on five different chromosomes that appear "linked" to OCD. It's likely that any genes directly associated OCD are to be found in these regions. "We've long suspected that, rather than being caused by a single gene, OCD has multiple genetic associations," says Jack Samuels, Ph.D., an epidemiologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 9017 - Posted: 06.10.2006

Everyone is familiar with the sinking feeling you get after deleting a computer file by mistake or leaving the house without your keys. But such events also cause their own unique reactions in the brain. US scientists writing in the Journal of Neuroscience found one area becomes more active after "costly" mistakes. They say it may help explain obsessive compulsive disorder, where minor events appear to be enough to triger an over-reaction in the same area. In the study, the brains of 12 healthy adults were examined using a functional MRI (fMRI) scanner while they were undertook 360 computer tests, such as spotting the odd one out or picking pairs of letters. Succeeding at some carried a small financial reward, while failing at others incurred penalties. Others carried no reward or penalty. People were told they had a $10 (£5.70) "credit" to begin, and that they would receive real cash depending on their balance at the end. The response to a mistake that cost them money was seen to be greater than the response to other mistakes and involved a part of the brain called the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC). That part of the brain did not show the same level of activity when the mistake did not carry a penalty, or had a neutral consequence. The researchers had already found in previous research that the rACC area did become more active when there was no cost in people with OCD. (C)BBC

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 8773 - Posted: 04.14.2006

Some cases of obsessive compulsive disorder in children may be a result of an immune reaction following an infection, scientists believe. Researchers found children with OCD were more likely to have antibodies associated with streptococcal infection than those without the disorder. But the joint Institute of Psychiatry and Institute of Neurology team said more research was needed. The findings were reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry. About 3% of the population suffers from the anxiety disorder, which is generally treated by drugs or cognitive behaviour therapy counselling. Researchers tested the blood of 50 children with OCD for the presence of anti-basal ganglia antibodies, which are produced when antibodies raised in response to a streptococcus infection react with part of the brain. Such an immune response is closely linked to movement disorders, such as Sydenham's chorea, which themselves are linked to OCD. The team found that 42% of the OCD children had the antibodies, compared to just 5% of the 190-strong control group. Writing in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the authors said the findings were significant and suggested that "autoimmunity may have a role in the genesis and/or maintenance of some cases of OCD". And they added: "Further examination of this autoimmune subgroup may provide insight into the neurobiology of OCD, and explain whether the antibodies concerned are causing the disease." (C)BBC

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders; Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders; Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Link ID: 7979 - Posted: 10.01.2005

New Haven, Conn.--A medication used to ease symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, also is helpful in treating people with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to a pilot study at Yale School of Medicine. Although the study included only 13 patients, the preliminary results are promising for persons who have found no relief using other medications and cognitive behavioral therapy, said the first author, Vladimir Coric, M.D., assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Yale OCD clinic. "Riluzole appears to have significant antiobsessional, antidepressant, and antianxiety properties," said Coric, who will be presenting the data Friday at the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation annual conference in San Diego. OCD currently is treated with serotonin reuptake inhibitors, cognitive behavioral therapy and dopamine antagonists, which reduce symptoms in 40-60 percent of patients. "However, a number of patients remain dramatically symptomatic even with the combination of pharmacotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy," Coric said. OCD symptoms include obsessive checking, cleaning, washing, counting, hoarding, touching, tapping, ordering, arranging, rubbing, and other repetitive behaviors. Coric said treatment-resistant OCD is one of the few psychiatric indications for neurosurgical intervention. "Novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed," he said.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders; Chapter 11: Motor Control and Plasticity
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders; Chapter 5: The Sensorimotor System
Link ID: 7711 - Posted: 07.30.2005

By LISA BELKIN To suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, many patients say, is to ''know you are crazy.'' Other forms of psychosis may envelop the sufferers until they inhabit the delusion. Part of the torture of O.C.D. is, as patients describe it, watching as if from the outside as they act out their obsessions -- knowing that they are being irrational, but not being able to stop. They describe thoughts crowding their minds, nattering at them incessantly -- anxious thoughts, sexual thoughts, violent thoughts, sometimes all at the same time. Is the front door locked? Are there germs on my hands? Am I a murderer if I step on an ant? And they describe increasingly elaborate rituals to assuage those thoughts -- checking and rechecking door locks, washing and rewashing hands, walking carefully, slowly and in bizarre patterns to avoid stepping on anything. They feel driven to do things they know make no sense. There are researchers who believe that some of this disturbing cacophony -- specifically a subset found only in children -- is caused by something familiar and common. They call it Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated With Streptococcal Infection, or, because every disease needs an acronym, Pandas. And they are certain it is brought on by strep throat -- or more specifically, by the antibodies created to fight strep throat. If they are right, it is a compelling breakthrough, a map of the link between bacteria and at least one subcategory of mental illness. And if bacteria can cause O.C.D., then an antibiotic might mitigate or prevent it -- a Promised Land of a concept to parents who have watched their children change overnight from exuberant, confident and familiar to doubt-ridden, fear-laden strangers. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 7398 - Posted: 05.25.2005

By CHARLES BARBER It often occurs to me, having spent most of the last decade working in shelters for the homeless mentally ill, that I am not where I am supposed to be. I went to all the right schools - Andover, Harvard, Columbia - and was on the fast track for a far more bourgeois and lucrative career, like being a doctor or lawyer. Instead, I spend my days counseling people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression in dingy shelters. My clients tell me harrowing stories of AIDS and heroin, of crack and methadone and sexual abuse, of the voices that plague them. When I read in my college alumni magazine about the activities of my classmates (the second and third houses, the six-figure donations), I often feel a brief pang of regret about my vocational choice. But it quickly dissipates. The truth is, I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. When I was a freshman at Harvard, I was quite suddenly overwhelmed by a steady assault of unwanted, irrational and deeply painful thoughts and ideas. While I'd had brief previews of such mental compulsions as a child and adolescent - having to wear a red shirt to school the next day or horrible things would happen, for example - I had always been able to push them aside. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 7253 - Posted: 04.26.2005

Perhaps the Beanie Baby craze wasn't so weird after all. Most people have a collection of some kind at some point in their lives. Indeed, historical studies show that acquiring and retaining objects, even when they are not necessary for survival, is not only nearly universal, but also has been part of human behavior since the earliest human societies. Yet despite the ubiquitous nature of this trait, very little is known about what drives humans to collect. By studying patients who developed abnormal hoarding behavior following brain injury, neurology researchers in the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A Carver College of Medicine have identified an area in the prefrontal cortex that appears to control collecting behavior. The findings suggest that damage to the right mesial prefrontal cortex causes abnormal hoarding behavior by releasing the primitive hoarding urge from its normal restraints. The study was published online in the Nov. 17 Advance Access issue of the journal Brain. Hoarding behavior is common among animals; around 70 species hoard and mostly they hoard food, which makes sense from a survival standpoint. Studies of hoarding behavior in rodents have shown that collecting is driven by certain primitive structures deep in the brain and most mammals, including humans, share these subcortical regions.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 6595 - Posted: 12.16.2004

Treating children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with a combination of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) and the medication sertraline is more effective than CBT or sertraline alone, according to a study in the October 27 issue of JAMA. Epidemiologic data suggest that approximately 1 in 200 young people suffers from OCD, which in many cases severely disrupts academic, social, and vocational functioning, according to background information in the article. Among adults with OCD, one-third to one-half develop the disorder during childhood or adolescence, which suggests that early intervention in childhood may prevent long-term illness in adulthood. Previous research has shown the effectiveness of short-term CBT or medical management with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (such as sertraline, an antidepressant). However, little is known about their relative and combined efficacy. CBT is a form of psychotherapy that helps patients change their thought patterns and behaviors related to obsessive thoughts and compulsions. OCD is characterized by recurrent obsessions and/or compulsions that are intense enough to cause severe discomfort. Obsessions are recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are unwanted and cause marked anxiety or distress. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or rituals (such as hand washing, hoarding, checking something over and over) or mental acts (such as counting, repeating words silently).

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 6331 - Posted: 10.27.2004

Analysis of DNA samples from patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and related illnesses suggests that these neuropsychiatric disorders affecting mood and behavior are associated with an uncommon mutant, malfunctioning gene that leads to faulty transporter function and regulation. Norio Ozaki, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues in the collaborative study explain their findings in the October 23 Molecular Psychiatry. Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found a mutation in the human serotonin transporter gene, hSERT, in unrelated families with OCD. A second variant in the same gene of some patients with this mutation suggests a genetic "double hit," resulting in greater biochemical effects and more severe symptoms. Among the 10 leading causes of disability worldwide, OCD is a mental illness characterized by repetitive unwanted thoughts and behaviors that impair daily life. "In all of molecular medicine, there are few known instances where two variants within one gene have been found to alter the expression and regulation of the gene in a way that appears associated with symptoms of a disorder," said co-author Dennis Murphy, M.D., National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Laboratory of Clinical Science. "This step forward gives us a glimpse of the complications ahead in studying the genetic complexity of neuropsychiatric disorders."

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 4417 - Posted: 10.24.2003

UCLA neuroscientists using positron emission tomography (PET) brain imaging have discovered distinct patterns of brain activity that predict the effectiveness of paroxetine, or Paxil, in treating obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) vs. major depression. Published in the March 2003 edition of the peer-reviewed American Journal of Psychiatry, the study is the first to compare neurobiological predictors of response to the same treatment across different disorders. Since patient responses to treatment options vary widely, the findings demonstrate the potential for using brain scans prior to treatment to tailor psychiatric care. "The study demonstrates the potential of functional brain imaging to predict how a patient will respond to treatment," said lead investigator Dr. Sanjaya Saxena, director of the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute's OCD Research Program and associate professor-in-residence of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. "Pretreatment brain scans hold promise for accelerating the sometimes painstaking process of identifying the best treatment for an individual patient and speeding development of new interventions."

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders; Chapter 2: Functional Neuroanatomy: The Cells and Structure of the Nervous System
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders; Chapter 1: Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System
Link ID: 3539 - Posted: 03.11.2003

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a severe psychiatric illness. The onset of disease often occurs during childhood. OCD is characterized by recurrent and intrusive thoughts (obsessions), usually accompanied by repetitive behaviours (compulsions), the person feels to be driven to perform, e.g. excessive washing of hands. Insight is generally preserved, thus the patient acknowledges the senseless nature of the symptoms. An extensive body of evidence supports the involvement of genetic components in the pathogenesis of OCD. OCD can be effectively treated with serotonin reuptake inhibitors, thus, it has been suggested that genes involved in the serotonergic system may be involved in the aetiology of this disorder. The University clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of Würzburg has investigated the etiology of early onset OCD in both family-based studies and longitudinal studies for many years. These studies demonstrated high prevalence of this disorder in the relatives of OCD patients. This supports the hypothesis that genetic factors play a role in OCD disease etiology.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 3187 - Posted: 12.17.2002

Scientists aim to settle the question of whether strep infections in kids are linked with the disorder. By DIANE CHUN Sun medical writer "Step on a crack, break your mother's back!" Many of us have played this childhood game, carefully avoiding the cracks in the sidewalk on a walk home from school. But when the need to avoid those cracks becomes obsessive, it can be a sign of a child in trouble, one afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. A new University of Florida study may settle once and for all the baffling question of whether common strep infections are linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder or tics (involuntary muscle spasms) in some children.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 7: Life-Span Development of the Brain and Behavior; Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 4: Development of the Brain; Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 2826 - Posted: 10.19.2002

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a severe psychiatric condition affecting up to 3% of the general population lifetime. It is characterized by intrusive unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and the need to perform repetitive acts or rituals in order to alleviate the anxiety (compulsions). As an example, a patient who fears contamination would be afraid of touching anything and would feel that they must wash their hands over and over. The causes of OCD remain obscure. However, there is strong evidence for a genetic component (the risk of developing OCD is higher in the relatives of affected), and for the involvement of the serotonin (5HT) neurochemical system. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is essential for communication between cells, and it is possible that the receptors that tell how much serotonin should be released may be altered in OCD patients.

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 2577 - Posted: 09.04.2002

Researchers at Rigshospital have used advanced scanning techniques to reveal regions of the brain which may be responsible for the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder. This according to daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende on Monday. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is believed to affect 2-3% of the national population. In some severe cases, obsessive-compulsive sufferers are rendered virtual invalids, unable to work or maintain social relationships. Symptoms include obsessive fear of hurting others, fear of contamination, sexual or religious obsessions or extreme fixations on order and symmetry. Researchers believe the discovery will be of enormous benefit to the medical understanding of OCD. All rights reserved CPHPOST.DK ApS

Related chapters from BN: Chapter 15: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress; Chapter 16: Psychopathology: Biological Basis of Behavior Disorders
Related chapters from MM:Chapter 11: Emotions, Aggression, and Stress; Chapter 12: Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Link ID: 2089 - Posted: 05.19.2002