Tuesday, March 16, 2010

My Brain Is On Fire!


 

The picture above is an image from a PET scan of a person diagnosed with ocd (right) and a normal brain (left). It was from the research of Lewis Bacter, M.D. at UCLA.


So I've been told this is what my brain would look like in a PET scan (on the right). All the colors represent brain activity, blue being the least to red being the most. The first time I saw this picture my literal reaction was "Dang! My brain really is on fire!". Someone who suffers from ocd will tell you that the disorder is constant and it's not usually in the back of your head, but usually right at the front of all your thoughts, actions, and processing.

Ocd mainly affects the front part of the brain which controls the perception of danger or fear, and the ability to start and stop different thoughts and activities. Basically, that's the perfect formula for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Many researchers have linked the ultra high activity in the front of the brain to an abonormal functioning of the nuerotransmitter, serotonin. It's been shown that through more PET scans that taking medications that have serotonin will decrease the activity in the brain as shown in the picture below.



Taking medication will not cure the disorder, since there is no cure, but it does aid in helping the person to control it overall. Medication is only half of the treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. The other half is CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy). Along with CBT comes daily assignments and a rating system to help gauge anxiety levels. CBT makes a person face their fears, but at a controllable anxiety level. Ultimately the patient in CBT has the complete control to decide what they want to do and how fast they try to accomplish it. Speaking from experience, it basically sucks while you're doing it but it works! It takes a lot of dedication, hard work, and support from loved ones to get through, but once your first fear is accomplished ocd doesn't seem so big. There might not be a cure, but there's definitely hope to live a happy life!

4 comments:

  1. Very good explanation. Scans are interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Always Thinking,
    What a great idea to support others with OCD
    and to teach those of us who are not familiar
    with OCD. Really admire your wanting to help
    others now that you're improving.
    May God help you overcome your fears and live the happy life you deserve.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Always Thinking,
    Great idea to support others with OCD and to teach those of us who are not familiar with OCD. Admire you wanting to help others now that you're improving.
    May God help you overcome your fears and live the happy life you deserve.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My son was recently diagnosed with OCD, and it's been a hard diagnosis for me to come to terms with. For some reason, your explanation is so simple, and beautiful even. It helps me (a little) understand what he's going through. So thank you. If you're interested, http://onlineceucredit.com/edu/social-work-ceus-ocd is another great resource. Thank you for being brave enough to share your story. You're helping so many out there, including me.

    ReplyDelete