Academics at the University of Winchester want to hear from individuals living with OCD who can help with research into one of the most widely misunderstood mental health conditions.
OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is often dismissed as quirky or eccentric behaviour but at its worst it can ruin lives, condemning people who live with it to a never-ending cycle of fear and distress. Sadly, many people with OCD do not experience relief with current treatment.
For the past year Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Dr Rhiannon Jones, Winchester PhD student Eleanor Phillips, and Professor Debra Gray of Kingson University, have been conducting tests with people diagnosed with OCD in a bid to identify links between their symptoms and their brain activity as a first step towards finding symptom-specific treatments.
Dr Jones explained that OCD subtypes are commonly classified according to the content of an individual’s obsessions or compulsions. For example, those who experience an intense fear of germs leading to excessive cleaning would be classed as a different subtype to those preoccupied with the need for order and symmetry. However, these classifications have not shown reliable relationships with brain activity or treatment outcomes.
“We are looking at a new way of understanding symptoms in OCD by looking at their underlying mechanisms, and how they relate to brain activity,” said Dr Jones.
“For example, when looking at behaviours such as cleaning, checking, or ritualised blinking and swallowing, we want to see whether the brain activity is different depending on whether they are driven by fear, sensory urges, or both.”
In simple terms while two compulsive washers may have different brain activity, a washer and a checker may have the same.
The Winchester study looks at how different symptoms are related to differences in brain activity. Participants take part in an interview and then undergo two sessions of EEG (electroencephalogram) - a painless, non-invasive diagnostic test which records electrical activity in the brain.
In the long run it is hoped to develop questionnaires which can support treatment tailored to the individual.
The study runs until the end of September, and the research team would like to hear from people living with OCD, between the ages of 18 and 55, who can take part.
“OCD can be such a debilitating condition, and many people do not realise how hard life can be for those with it,” said Dr Jones (pictured).
“Many people we have spoken to say they have not been helped by currently available treatments. That’s why it is so important to learn how people with OCD experience their symptoms and how we can better understand OCD and help treatment work for everyone.”
For more information and to find out about eligibility to participate, visit https://ocdstudy.wordpress.com/ocd-patient-information-sheet/ or email Rhiannon.Jones@Winchester.ac.uk.
No one agreeing to take part in the study will be identified in any subsequent publications.
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