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News News by industry Research Study set to aid obsessive disorder fight | Study set to aid obsessive disorder fight |
| Written by News Desk | |
| Thursday, 24 July 2008 | |
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Cambridge researchers have discovered that measuring activity in a region of the brain could help identify people at risk of developing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). As the current diagnosis of OCD is based on a clinical interview and often does not occur until the disorder has progressed, this could enable earlier, more objective detection and intervention. The scientists, funded by the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust, found that people with OCD and their close family members show under-activation of brain areas responsible for stopping habitual behaviour. It is the first time scientists have associated functional changes in the brain with familial risk for the disorder. Obsessive compulsive disorder affects 2-3 per cent of the population. Patients suffer from obsessions that are distressing and hard to suppress. Dr Samuel Chamberlain at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which is involved in decision making and behaviour. Volunteers were asked to look at two pictures on a screen; each had a house and a face superimposed. The volunteers were asked to work out whether the house or face was the correct target while fMRI monitored their patterns of brain activity. Brain activity throughout showed under-activation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and other brain areas in both the OCD patients and their family members. |
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