A fascinating study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, uses structural brain imaging data to find “robust but subtle differences across different age groups among ADHD, ASD, and OCD.”
If you really want to know the specifics, click here for a better explanation than I can give, but it has to do with differences in intercranial volumes, as well as thicker cortical gray matter in frontal regions.
There are some skeptics who have trouble acknowledging that obsessive-compulsive disorder is more than just a habit of a kind that can be defeated with will-power.
But there is unbelievably compelling evidence that very real brain differences are behind OCD.
One of the most important studies, based on MRIs, found differences in the cingulo-opercular network of the brain between folks with OCD and those without it (Note: the image at the top of the post is from this study).
This meant that people with OCD “had far more activity in the specific brain areas involved in recognizing that they were making an error, but less activity in the areas that could help make them stop.”
As the study’s author pointed out, it’s as if we (yes, myself, included) have a faulty brake system.
“It’s like their foot is on the brake telling them to stop, but the brake isn’t attached to the part of the wheel that can actually stop them,” researcher Kate Fitzgerald told the University of Michigan.
She adds:
“This is not some deep dark problem of behavior – OCD is a medical problem, and not anyone’s fault.
With brain imaging we can study it just like heart specialists study EKGs of their patients – and we can use that information to improve care and the lives of people with OCD.”
As if more proof were needed, scientists can actually do brain surgery in severe OCD that can alter the disconnect and, just as the brain scans suggest, it seems to do the trick.
Another important study using MRI’s of folks with OCD showed corpus callosum and white matter abnormalities in the brain.
So my fellow Christians, we really need to recognize that obsessive-compulsive-disorder, like so many other “mental health” conditions, is actually a medical disease.
My favorite Christian book on all this comes from neuroscientist Dr. Matthew Stanford, called Grace for the Afflicted. He goes through each disorder and gives easily digestible medical evidence showing these are real conditions, identifiable in neuroimaging (read our interview here).
As for OCD treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy can be helpful for some people in more mild cases, and medicine can be effective, as well. From personal experience, CBT hasn’t done much (anything) for me; whereas, medicine can be quite effective. But of course we’re all different.
(Note: I first posted this in 2020, but I like to give periodic reminders of some of those most compelling studies).
