Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, What Research Should Women Know About? - Dr. Simpson (VIDEO)
Dr. Simpson describes the research on obsessive compulsive disorder/OCD that women should know about.
More Videos from Dr. Helen Blair Simpson 20 videos in this series
Dr. Simpson:
If people are interested in my research program, they can go to our website www.columbia-ocd.org. We do two things – one is for the patients of today, we are working to try to improve our current treatments; for example, how to improve adherence to cognitive behavioral therapy or how to augment the effects of medication or trying out novel medications. But for the patients of tomorrow, our goal is to understand the brain mechanisms underlying these symptoms, and so to advance that, we are doing brain imaging studies, looking at different neuro-chemicals in the brain to test hypotheses about what causes OCD, and we are also partnering with basic scientists at our institution to try to develop animal models of OCDs so we can really get at the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie these symptoms.
About Dr. Simpson, M.D., Ph.D.:
Helen Blair Simpson, M.D., Ph.D., an expert on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), is an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, New York City, where she directs the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and OCD Research Program at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She was a member of the work group that developed the first “Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Patients With OCD” for the American Psychiatric Association.
Through her research, Dr. Simpson is working to trace the brain circuits believed to play a major role in the development of obsessions and compulsions, and she has developed novel approaches to treatment. Her research has been supported by a NARSAD Young Investigator grant.
