Causes of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

This is an article which I wrote about a year ago (Dec.'06) for an online client. I wasn't paid like what was agreed so I think I have the right to post it here. The agreement was not followed so this article is still mine. I would appreciate if you could give comments on this issue. Thanks.

            Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is rapidly catching the attention of the more and more medical research institutions in and outside of the US today. The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disease that is characterized by intrusive thoughts that lead the patient to perform repetitive rituals that hinder him from performing the normal regular routines which most people do.

Accordingly, most adult sufferers recognize that they are actually performing a senseless thing due to its repetitive nature, but they do not have control and that they just can’t stop it. On the other hand some sufferers, particularly children, may not recognize the abnormality of their behavior. One in every 50 people is said to be a sufferer of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Symptoms for most recorded cases generally show up during the adolescent years or early adulthood of the OCD sufferer.

Preventing Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder remains largely unexplored, partly because most if not all medical researchers regarding this anxiety disease, are not certain about the causes of the problem. However, some medical researches show that it may have something to do with chemicals and components in the brain that carry messages from one nerve cell to another. A certain chemical present in the human brain, called serotonin, helps to keep people from repeating the same behaviors over and over again. A person with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder may not have enough serotonin. Findings show that many OCD sufferers can function better when they take medicines that increase the amount of serotonin in their brain.

            The too many assumptions about the exact cause of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder have bisected the community of medical scientists studying it. One group believes that the obsessive-compulsive behavior is a psychological disorder. They are claiming that OCD is caused when people seriously takes personal responsibility of the obsessive thoughts which they experience. This blown up sense of responsibility makes people more anxious, keeping the distressing thought in their mind and they then try to avoid this feeling of responsibility by performing compulsions. Interestingly, claims by the other group of scientists are very far from the claims of the first group which is related to psychological disorder. This group of researchers strongly believes that obsessive-compulsive behavior is caused by abnormalities in the brain, that it is rather biological in nature rather than psychological.

                Due to the different claims and assumptions of medical researchers, treatment centers often recommend of both medical and behavioral means for the treatment OCD sufferers. A combination of the two treatments is often helpful for most patients. Some individuals are more responsive to one therapy, some to another. So far, two medications have already been found effective in treating OCD are clomipramine and fluoxetine although, there are also a number of others that are showing promise and may soon be available. Behavioral therapy, particularly a type called ‘Exposure and Response Prevention,’ has also been proven useful for treating OCD.