Those who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder know just how much of a struggle it can be. Anything from constant hand washing to a continuous streaming of thoughts of death can overtake a person’s life, leaving them disabled. While disability benefits through the Social Security Administration can help when the impact of OCD gets dire, new research from the University of Cambridge underscores just how necessary early treatment is for these patients.
Dr. Claire Gillan and Professor Trevor Robbins said OCD should be thought of as less of a disorder caused by obsessions or faulty beliefs and more as a condition “brought about when the brain’s habit system runs amok.” Robbins and Gillan found that patients with OCD had a harder time stopping certain habits due to a brain’s increase in activity in the caudate nucleus. This is a region of the brain that helps control habits, something many of us end up taking for granted.
“It’s not just OCD; there are a range of human behaviors that are now considered examples of compulsivity, including drug and alcohol abuse and binge-eating,” Gillan said. “What all these behaviors have in common is the loss of top-down control, perhaps due to miscommunication between regions that control our habit and those such as the prefrontal cortex that normally help control volitional behaviors. As compulsive behaviors become more ingrained over time, our intentions play less and less of a role in what we actually do.”
If you notice early signs of OCD in yourself or a loved one, early treatment can be extremely helpful in coping with and perhaps even stopping these compulsions.
The Law Offices of Harold W. Conick & Associates, Ltd., have successfully represented numerous clients over the last three decades to obtain federal disability benefits based on their inability to work from symptoms associated with OCD.
OCD is a devastating mental disorder that robs an individual of the ability to focus on work related activities, among other limitations. We are experts in the presentation of evidence for OCD cases that will enable the SSA to approve disability benefits for our clients.
