News & Events
A Cambridge University study suggests that people with OCD and their close relatives tended to have less activity in the part of the brain known as the orbitofrontal cortex than control subjects who did not have the disorder. The discovery may lead to improved diagnosis and new ways to test the effectiveness of treatments for OCD.
Within limits, a certain amount of superstitious thinking can be a harmless part of normal life. The popularity of horoscopes, tarot card readings, good luck charms, and psychics in our own society bears witness to this. However, even in primitive societies where magic controls people’s actions and decisions on an everyday basis, it is integrated into everyday life, regarded as a tool, and does not paralyze its users. In OCD, unfortunately, its usage and negative effects expand far beyond these ordinary limits. Beginning as a way to control anxiety brought on by obsessions, it gradually escapes the user’s control, taking over their life, and actually generating greater anxiety than it was originally supposed to relieve.
