Ocd final project - ronnie singh
- 1. The Neurobiology of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Final Project for Professor Peggy Mason´s Coursera Course Understanding the Brain: The neurobiology of everyday life Submitted by Ronnie Singh April 27th, 2015
- 2. Introduction This final project explores a misunderstood anxiety disorder characterized by disturbing and intrusive thoughts and ritualistic behavior know as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD); This topic was mentioned and explained by Professor Peggy Mason in the video 8.16; OCD is defined as an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce fear, worry, agitation and apprehension (obsessions), repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety (compulsions), or a combination of such obsessions and compulsions(1).
- 3. Facts about OCD About 2.3 percent of the U.S. population ages 18 to 54 - approximately 3.3 million Americans - has OCD in a given year; OCD affects men and women equally; OCD typically begins during adolescence or early childhood; at least one-third of the cases of adult OCD began in childhood; OCD cost the U.S. $8.4 billion in 1990 in social and economic losses, nearly 6 percent of the total mental health bill of $148 billion. Source: MHMR Services for the Concho Valley http://www.mhmrcv.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8877
- 4. Cellular elements of the nervous system that are active in OCD http://understanding_ocd.tripod.com/ ocd_neurons_serotonin.html Nerve Cells The human brain contains around 100 billion neurons.
- 5. Cellular elements of the nervous system that are active in OCD: Nerve Cells Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain that sends messages between brain cells (neurons) and it is involved in regulating everything from anxiety, to memory, to sleep. http://beyondmeds.com/2009/11/10/chemical- imbalance-myth/ser/
- 6. Regional parts of the nervous system that are active in OCD Understanding the Brain – Week 1 - Central Anatomy Cerebral Cortex The cerebral cortex is connected to various structures such as the basal ganglia and the thalamus, sending and receiving information to and from them.
- 7. Regional parts of the nervous system that are active in OCD Understanding the Brain – Week 8 - Video 8.10 Basal Ganglia The basal ganglia play a role in controlling movement and cognitive function. It is involved in the enabling of practiced motor acts and in gating the initiation of voluntary movements. There are a number of cortical loops where the basal ganglia plays a role in cognitive function that is similar to their role in motor control (2).
- 8. Regional parts of the nervous system that are active in OCD Understanding the Brain – Week 8 - Video 8.16 Striatum The striatum is best known for its role in the planning and modulation of movement pathways, but is also involved in a variety of other cognitive processes .
- 9. Impaired Functions According with Professor Peggy Masson, “in the basal ganglia, the striatum gets input from the entire cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is responsible not only with movements, but also receives information about language, visual, auditory, etc. All this information is going to striatum. The striatum talks back with all these different parts of cortex. This conversation has to do with selecting, not actions but thoughts, perception, moods, and emotions. The basal ganglia is a selector, not just of actions. So, a disorder in the basal ganglia may lead to problems with thoughts or perceptual selection. In Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, "the compulsive" might be an action that the person repeats over and over again, but "the obsessive" is a thought that follows the same pattern of repetition” (3).
- 10. Impaired Functions Imbalance or abnormalities in the neurotransmitter, serotonin, can be responsible for OCD. http://www.ocduk.org/what-causes-ocd
- 11. The neurobiology of everyday life Explain in detail the ways in which this course has allowed you to better analyze the events and phenomena around you.
- 12. “I decided to present this subject, because an acquaintance, who is under medication (haloperidol), presents repetitive patterns and behavior. I talked with his mother to understand better how does he feel, and she defined OCD as mix of fear, irritation, anger, and frustration. She thinks that OCD for her son is an Eternal Internal Battle".
- 13. “From the outside, his internal suffering has no visible physical disabilities and has every appearance of being as completely functional as any other teenager. However, internally a constant war is happening for survival”.
- 14. “A significant improvement was observed when he started to combine medication with CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy)”.
- 15. “This course has helped me to better understand the neurological changes occurring with people suffering with OCD. Understanding what is happening with people with OCD made me not only to sympathize, but also to empathize about this disorder”.
- 16. Recommended Video For better understanding about this disorder, I recommend the video "OCD - The Internal War" from Mark Pancer & David Hoffert. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKiu1IZcEF0).
- 17. References 1 – Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive%E2%80%93comp ulsive_disorder 2 – Neuroscience online – UTHealth http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s3/chapter04.html 3 – Understanding the Brain: neurobiology of everyday life – MOOC – Professor Peggy Mason – Chicago University