New York: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental illness in which a person repeats the same action over and over again or suffers from unseen fears. Now, for the first time, scientists have traced the exact location of this state of brain electrical activity.
The discovery could weaken or divert the electrical signals that cause OCD, giving millions of patients a comfortable life for which they are forced to take expensive drugs. In many countries, two out of every 100 people are infected with OCD and their daily lives are becoming indigestible.
David Burton, a biomedical engineer at Brown University, and his colleagues noted the brain activity of five people with severe OCD in the laboratory and at home. He also noted facial expressions, body language, heart rate and other conditions.
This was followed by a discussion of the relationship between behavior change and mental (electrical) activity. Although this research has been done on only a few people, its results are important because it will open new avenues of treatment. Experts accurately identified the brain signals that cause OCD at home and in the laboratory, and also examined the physical behavior at that time.
Scientists have been able to tell by looking at the electrical currents of the brain how severe OCD is at the moment and when the patient is normal. In this way the dominance and intensity of day and night seizures can be ascertained.
We know that the OCD recording system can also calm the brain. These devices provide DBS (Deep Brain Simulation). This means that as soon as you note the OCD, it can reduce the electrical activity by starting firing on its own. However, the process of DBS has been less beneficial. In many patients, it did not help.
But now by knowing the electrical pattern of OCD, DBS can be changed in this way, ie by watching OCD, BDS will change its signal and try to weaken this electrical process. Scientists have named it Adaptive DBS.
According to Brown University, detecting the electrical activity of OCD will lead to new therapies.
