by Dr Mark Sykes | Nov 1, 2018 | Memory, OCD blog
Did I lock the front door? Did I lock the front door? I have said this to myself many times. If I am feeling particularly distracted then it wont be unusual that I will check the front door. If I had OCD I might check it multiple times even when the first check...
by Dr Mark Sykes | Oct 23, 2018 | ACC, Brain, cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical , glutamate, glutamine, Neurotransmiiters, OCD blog, rACC
The brain is awash with neurotransmitters. Knowing which type of neurotransmitter does what and where is a pretty important thing to know. For OCD one of the key functional circuits of the brain is...
by Dr Mark Sykes | Oct 17, 2018 | Magical thinking, OCD blog
Obsessive compulsive disorder presents slightly differently between children and adults. If we use the metaphor of a cold – it starts off sounding and feeling one way but develops over time, seemingly moving in the body and gathering strength. However, from the...
by Dr Mark Sykes | Oct 16, 2018 | Brain, OCD blog
We will be talking about deep brain stimulation (DBS) for OCD but lets take a brief diversion first. If you were ever a medical history buff you may have heard of trepanation, From the image below you can see that involves making a hole in the skull. At first pass...
by Dr Mark Sykes | Oct 15, 2018 | Brain, OCD blog
Imagine a long plane flight. You arrive at Heathrow and accidentally picked up several bags belonging to an elderly pensioner. Nothing in the pensioners’ bags seem to be of use and if you wore any of the clothing contained in the bag would make other people look at...
by Dr Mark Sykes | Jan 23, 2018 | Brain, OCD blog
OCD is associated with altered connectivity within the default mode network (DMN). This is a group of brain structures that are hypothesised to work together to perform specific functions. These include: Self-referential mental activity (Gusnard et al. 2001)...
