Around three quarters of a million people in the UK are predicted to have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – a disorder characterised by obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. While many people jokingly say that they are “a little bit OCD” when it comes to perhaps tidying their home or organising their bookshelves, OCD is actually a crippling disorder which can heavily impact the lives of people who have it.
Currently, the NHS recommends that OCD patients are treated with SSRIs – medication that increases serotonin but in half of those patients, this medication isn’t effective in treating OCD and even when it is, it can take up to eight weeks for the medication to properly take effect meaning that the sometimes debilitating symptoms can still impact their daily lives.
However, new research has revealed that an imbalance in brain chemicals in OCD can lead to radically different and improved treatments for the disorder.
The chemical imbalance that is causing OCD
To research OCD, scientists at the University of Cambridge used powerful new brain imaging techniques to reveal a neurochemical imbalance within regions of the frontal lobes in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
The study shows that the balance between glutamate and GABA – two major neurotransmitter chemicals – is “disrupted” in OCD patients in two frontal regions of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the supplementary motor area (SMA). Researchers also found that people who do not have OCD but are prone to habitual and compulsive behaviour have increased glutamate levels in one of these brain regions.
So, what does this mean?
Well, as simple as this may seem, this is actually a groundbreaking revelation that will lead to not only improved treatments for OCD but a better comprehension of how it manifests, what medications it responds to and what we can do to support people affected by this condition.
Writing for The Conversation, scientists said: “In patients with extremely severe OCD, for whom all other usual treatments have failed, surgeons have actually removed the ACC. This is one of the very few examples of where psychosurgery has been shown to be beneficial – with few reported adverse effects on cognition.
“In the future, though, rather than removing the ACC in such patients, deep brain stimulation through implanted electrodes could be used to reduce activity in this region.
“If OCD is diagnosed early in the course of the illness – and the chemical imbalance we have discovered is also detected – then these new treatments offer hope for improved quality of life and wellbeing for patients of the disorder.”
It’s a massive step forward for treating the condition – here’s hoping they become more readily available soon.