Therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder, it seems, can change not only behavior but the chemistry of the brain itself.
Bizarre rituals--repeated hand washing, an overpowering urge to recheck locked doors--are the hallmark of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which afflicts some 5 million Americans. Efforts to satisfy these urges can be so all-consuming that they interfere with jobs or relationships. Sufferers usually know their behavior is excessive but cannot stop.
For some unknown reason, drugs such as Prozac help relieve the symptoms of OCD, but 90 percent of medicated patients relapse when the drugs are withdrawn. More effective is behavioral therapy, which has a cure rate of up to 80 percent. Typically, the therapist encourages patients to expose themselves to a situation that provokes an obsessive response. The patients gradually lengthen the time they can ignore the compulsion. Eventually the urges subside.
A team of psychiatrists and psychologists has now found evidence that ...
