Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, a disorder marked by repetitive behaviors and recurrent thoughts, affects more than two million American adults, one-third of whom started to exhibit symptoms as children.
Many of those with OCD recognize that their obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors are unnecessary and irrational but find it difficult to resist them thus affecting their ability to go about with their tasks and even causing distress. A treatment that involves sending electrical impulses to specific areas of the brain, however, shows promise in helping people who suffer from the disorder.
Neuroscientists have been investigating whether the neurosurgical procedure, known as deep brain stimulation, or DBS, can provide lasting benefits to individuals with OCD particularly those who do not respond to other treatments. DBS requires surgery to implant the brain pacemaker, a medical device that delivers electrical signals to parts of the brain that are involved in movement control and emotions.
The surgical treatment is prescribed for patients with severe symptoms of Parkinson's disease, dystonia, tremor and depression and research suggest the DBS can also provide promising long term results to patients who have highly resistant OCD.
In a 2006 long-term study, researchers found that deep brain stimulation had encouraging therapeutic effects on ten adult OCD patients with severe illness who did not respond to medication and behavior therapy.
Because of the invasive nature of DBS, however, the treatment is rarely prescribed for OCD patients. For 37-year-old Brett Larsen, however, who was diagnosed with OCD when he was 12 and suffered from severe symptoms that negatively affected his life, DBS was worth trying as he did not respond to other OCD treatments that worked with other patients including medications, behavioral therapies and hospitalization.
Larsen's psychiatrist Gerald Maguire, from the University of California Riverside medical school, said that the procedure is only reserved for patients when all other standard therapies have failed. Larsen, who was found to be qualified for deep brain stimulation, underwent operation to have electrodes implanted in his brain.
In January, Larsen had his brain pacemaker activated and by May, some of his compulsive behaviors have already become less pronounced and while some of his repetitive behaviors still exist, he acknowledges that things have become better, if not altogether normal.
"I feel like I'm getting better every day," said Larsen. "I feel like I'm more able to achieve the things I want to do since I had the surgery."
