ByROMAIN FONSEGRIVES, AFP Amber Pearson, who received a brain implant to treat epilepsy and OCD. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP)American Amber Pearson used to wash her hands until they bled, terrified by the idea of contamination from everyday items, a debilitating result of her obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). But the repetitive rituals of her condition are largely...
by Erik Robinson, Oregon Health & Science University OHSU neurosurgeon Ahmed Raslan, M.D., and patient Amber Pearson. Credit: OHSU/Christine Torres HicksA patient at Oregon Health & Science University is the first in the world to benefit from a single stimulator implanted in the brain to effectively control two life-altering conditions: seizures caused by epilepsy and compulsive...
by Eric W. Dolan in Mental Health, Psychedelic Drugs Scientists have begun to investigate whether psychedelic substances could aid in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. A preliminary study, published in Scientific Reports, has found that more than 30% of individuals with OCD who consumed these substances reported positive effects lasting for more than three months. OCD is...
by Maddie Massy-Westropp, University of New South Wales Experienced value—devaluation test results. Credit: Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.11.004A new study from UNSW Sydney shows that teenagers with OCD experience deficits in decision making and behavioral control. This is linked to abnormal activity in an area of the brain called the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)....
by The Mount Sinai Hospital Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Both rare and commonly observed differences in the DNA letters strung along a person’s chromosomes can explain about a third of the risk for being diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to a new study led by scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai....
By Baland Jalal on September 7, 2021 Credit: Os Tartarouchos Getty Images Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has puzzled artists and scientists for centuries. Afflicting one in 50 people, OCD can take several forms, such as compulsively putting things in just the right order or checking if the stove is turned off 10 times in a row. One type of OCD that affects nearly...
By Catharine Paddock, Ph.D. Fact checked by Isabel Godfrey Over the last decade, scientists have been discovering that microglia, a type of immune cell that resides in the brain, do more than respond to illness and infection. Now, new research in mice has linked the dysfunction of microglia of a particular genetic lineage to anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)....
By Clare Knight, B.Sc.Reviewed by Dr. Liji Thomas, MD Body dysmorphia is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). An individual suffering from body dysmorphia perceives gross imperfections with their appearance. These imperfections are often imaginative or too subtle to be noticed by anyone else. However, for people with body dysmorphia they are occupying a big...
By Timothy Huzar Reviewed by Stacy Sampson, DO Dermatophagia is a psychological condition in which a person compulsively bites, chews, gnaws, or eats their skin. It often affects the skin around people’s fingers. Dermatophagia is an emerging concept in mental health research. For this reason, there have been few studies into precisely what it is and how it differs from other conditions. According to...
A correlation was found between strong feelings of responsibility and likelihood of developing OCD or GAD in American university students HIROSHIMA UNIVERSITY A new study has found that people who reported intense feelings of responsibility were susceptible to developing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) was published in the International Journal of Cognitive Therapy. “People with OCD [are]...
