Nature Medicine solves the mystery of obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder affects as many as 2% of the world’s population, leading to repeated unnecessary thoughts and repetitive behaviors

"OCD is a disorder in which the severity of symptoms varies greatly over time, and can be caused by environmental incentives," said Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Brown University, Biomedical Engineer of the Center for Neurorehabilitation and Neurotechnology of the U.

The research was led by Nicole Provenza, Ph.

In this study, Goodman's team recruited five patients with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder who were eligible for DBS treatment

In addition to brain signal data, the team also collected a set of behavioral biomarkers

Provenz said: “This is the first long-term recording of brain signals and related behavioral measurements of participants with neuropsychiatric disorders at home

Provenz's analysis of the data shows that the technology does indeed identify brain signal patterns that may be related to fluctuations in OCD symptoms

"We were able to collect a richer data set than before, and we found some attractive trends that we want to explore in a larger patient population," Borton said

Once these biomarkers are identified, they can be used in adaptive brain pacemaker systems

Goodman said: "In addition to advancing the treatment of severe obstinate obsessive-compulsive disorder with DBS, this research may improve our understanding of the underlying neural circuits of this disease

Research work in this area is ongoing

"Our goal is to understand what these brain records tell us and train the device to recognize specific patterns associated with specific symptoms," Sheth said

Journal Reference :

1. Nicole R.