There are already millions of people who are suffering from "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder". It was found out that almost
5 million of Americans are afflicted with this kind of disorder, and it is obvious that even other nationalities are having this problem and it includes my very own countrymen.
People with this kind of disorder are the one who cannot avoid doing things repeatedly like: combing their hair for several times until they satisfied themselves, there are some who used to wash their hands repeatedly, some cannot stop cleaning their places even if the place is already clean and tidy, and other more
symptoms. Actually, these people inflicted with "OCD"knows what is happeninig to them but they cannot just control their urges and the problem is, it affects their relationships with others and even with their jobs.
A certain drug called "PROZAC" helped the patient to relieved the symptoms, but, whenever they withdraw from taking this drug they relapsed. And according to some studies 90% of these patients have relapsed. So, doctors, specialized with this kind of disorder tried to use other method of treating this problem, and this is the "Behavioral Therapy", wherein, according to them has 80% rate of curing. In this way, therapists are encouraging the patients to be exposed to the things that makes them feel the urges, then gradually symptoms will diminish until it subside. A group of psychiatrist and psychologists have found out that in using this method, changes occured not only in the patient's behavior but also in the chemistry of the brain. And so, they did brain imaging to determine which part or areas of the brain are abnormal in OCD and become normal after the therapy.
In doing this brain imaging,
researchers used "PET" (positron-emmission-tomography scan) before and after ten weeks without medication. They gave injections of radioactively glucose to know which of the known four areas of the brain takes most of the glucose. The "Orbital Cortex" which is one of the four areas, lies just above the socket of the eyes, and it is hyperactive in patients with OCD. This is the one that alerts the brain to the problem and sending out false alarm in OCD. The "Caudate Nuclues", which is the second area, recieves the signal from orbital cortex and its function is to put off that signal if it is no longer needed. The signal runs from caudate nucleus to "Cingulate Cyrus", the third area of the brain that causes the beating of the heart and stomach churning. And the fourth one, which is the "Thalamus", is the one that processed the signal from the cortex to other areas.
In normal person, if he knew that there is no reason to be anxious, the "caudate nucleus" will switch off, while in patient with OCD, this things does not happen. All of these four areas of the brain ates glucose in a very high level during the tests and they locked together. This tight linkage, according to researchers maybe the cause of OCD. Although, the main cause of this disorder is still a mystery, researchers believed that it might have something to do with inherited temperament or maybe this is due to emotional trauma.
Anyway, we all know that our brain is capable of doing things and all the changes in our lives.