Final Project Understanding the Brain - Neurobiology of everyday life Professor Peggy Mason Bubmitted by Ronnie singh

1. The Neurobiology of Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Final Project for
Professor Peggy Mason´s Coursera Course
Understanding the Brain:
The neurobiology of everyday life
Submitted by Ronnie Singh
April 27th, 2015

2. Introduction
 This final project explores a misunderstood anxiety disorder
characterized by disturbing and intrusive thoughts and ritualistic
behavior know as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD);
 This topic was mentioned and explained by Professor Peggy
Mason in the video 8.16;
 OCD is defined as an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive
thoughts that produce fear, worry, agitation and apprehension
(obsessions), repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated
anxiety (compulsions), or a combination of such obsessions
and compulsions(1).

3. Facts about OCD
 About 2.3 percent of the U.S. population ages 18 to 54 -
approximately 3.3 million Americans - has OCD in a given
year;
 OCD affects men and women equally;
 OCD typically begins during adolescence or early
childhood; at least one-third of the cases of adult OCD began
in childhood;
 OCD cost the U.S. $8.4 billion in 1990 in social and
economic losses, nearly 6 percent of the total mental health
bill of $148 billion.
Source: MHMR Services for the Concho Valley
http://www.mhmrcv.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8877

4. Cellular elements of the nervous system that
are active in OCD
http://understanding_ocd.tripod.com/
ocd_neurons_serotonin.html
Nerve Cells
The human brain contains
around 100 billion
neurons.

5. Cellular elements of the nervous system that
are active in OCD: Nerve Cells
Serotonin is a
neurotransmitter in the
brain that sends messages
between brain cells
(neurons) and it is involved
in regulating everything
from anxiety, to memory, to
sleep.
http://beyondmeds.com/2009/11/10/chemical-
imbalance-myth/ser/

6. Regional parts of the nervous system that are
active in OCD
Understanding the Brain – Week 1 -
Central Anatomy
Cerebral Cortex
The cerebral cortex is connected to
various structures such as the basal
ganglia and the thalamus, sending
and receiving information to and
from them.

7. Regional parts of the nervous system that are
active in OCD
Understanding the Brain – Week 8 -
Video 8.10
Basal Ganglia
The basal ganglia play a role in
controlling movement and cognitive
function. It is involved in the enabling of
practiced motor acts and in gating the
initiation of voluntary movements. There
are a number of cortical loops where the
basal ganglia plays a role in cognitive
function that is similar to their role in
motor control (2).

8. Regional parts of the nervous system that are
active in OCD
Understanding the Brain – Week 8 -
Video 8.16
Striatum
The striatum is best known for its
role in the planning and
modulation of movement
pathways, but is also involved in
a variety of other cognitive
processes .

9. Impaired Functions
According with Professor Peggy Masson, “in the basal ganglia,
the striatum gets input from the entire cerebral cortex. The
cerebral cortex is responsible not only with movements, but
also receives information about language, visual, auditory, etc.
All this information is going to striatum. The striatum talks
back with all these different parts of cortex. This conversation
has to do with selecting, not actions but thoughts, perception,
moods, and emotions. The basal ganglia is a selector, not just of
actions. So, a disorder in the basal ganglia may lead to problems
with thoughts or perceptual selection.
In Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, "the compulsive" might be
an action that the person repeats over and over again, but "the
obsessive" is a thought that follows the same pattern of
repetition” (3).

10. Impaired Functions
Imbalance or
abnormalities in
the
neurotransmitter,
serotonin, can be
responsible for
OCD.
http://www.ocduk.org/what-causes-ocd

11. The neurobiology of everyday life
Explain in detail the ways in which this
course has allowed you to better analyze
the events and phenomena around you.

12. “I decided to present this subject, because
an acquaintance, who is under medication
(haloperidol), presents repetitive patterns
and behavior.
I talked with his mother to understand
better how does he feel, and she defined
OCD as mix of fear, irritation, anger, and
frustration. She thinks that OCD for her son
is an Eternal Internal Battle".

13. “From the outside, his internal suffering
has no visible physical disabilities and has
every appearance of being as completely
functional as any other teenager. However,
internally a constant war is happening for
survival”.

14. “A significant improvement was observed
when he started to combine medication
with CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy)”.

15. “This course has helped me to better
understand the neurological changes
occurring with people suffering with OCD.
Understanding what is happening with
people with OCD made me not only to
sympathize, but also to empathize about
this disorder”.

16. Recommended Video
 For better understanding about this disorder, I recommend the
video "OCD - The Internal War" from Mark Pancer & David
Hoffert.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKiu1IZcEF0).

17. References
1 – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive%E2%80%93comp
ulsive_disorder
2 – Neuroscience online – UTHealth
http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s3/chapter04.html
3 – Understanding the Brain: neurobiology of everyday
life – MOOC – Professor Peggy Mason – Chicago
University