What Causes Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? - Dr. Simpson (VIDEO)
Dr. Simpson describes the causes of obsessive compulsive disorder/OCD.
More Videos from Dr. Helen Blair Simpson 20 videos in this series
Dr. Simpson:
In addition, there are other parts of the brain that we think also contribute to the symptoms of OCD. Now that’s the brain circuit’s underlying OCD, that’s what generates the obsessions and compulsions, but what causes the brain circuit to be abnormal, that’s a different question. And that’s what I would call etiology of the disorder, and there we have a lot of different clues. There could be a lot of different ways that brain circuit becomes abnormal, including a genetic vulnerability to OCD, infectious causes, environmental causes, and so in the end, we say, well, we think OCD is caused by some combination of genes, the environment, and development.
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.
