Notes

Two aspects
Intrusive thoughts, images, or impulses- known as obsessions
And behavioral compulsions to engage in to relieve the anxiety.
Can interfere with work, school, and social life- The disorder can be very debilitating and time consuming

Obsessions and compulsions can take on many different forms-
They can manifest

Excessive cleaning, checking, fastidious organization of things, walking in predetermined patterns

Another part of the distressing component is that many people are aware of these obsessions and compulsions, they’re just not able to control it

Report feeling crazy for experiencing anxiety for irrational thoughts and finding it difficult to control responses.

Neurobiological Disorder
Research suggest that OCD sufferer’s brains’ are hardwired to behave in a certain fashion

Researches have impacted three regions of the brain variously involved in social behavior, and complex cognitive planning, voluntary movement, and emotional and motivational responses; orbitofrontal complex, caudate nucleus, and cingulate Gyrus respectively.

The other piece of the puzzle is that OCD is associated with low levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that communicates between brain structures and helps regulate vital processes: such as mood, aggression, impulse control, sleep, appetite, body temperature, and pain.

Are serotonin and activity in these regions the sources of OCD? Or symptoms of an unknown underlying cause of the disorder?
Researchers still have yet to decipher.


There are affective treatments for OCD
Medication that increases Serotonin in the brain by limiting its absorption by brain cells, behavioral therapy that gradually desensitizes patients to their anxieties, and in some cases electroconvulsive therapy or surgery when OCD doesn’t respond to other forms of treatment.