OCD, Trauma, and Methadone

Research at Tel Aviv University showed a clear association of OCD and lifetime history of any traumatic events among patients in methadone maintenance treatment. (CNS Spectrums, 2009; 14(10):547-554)
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Deep-Brain Stimulator for Severe OCD Approved by FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved a humanitarian device exemption for the first implantable device that delivers intermittent electrical therapy deep inside the brain to suppress symptoms associated with severe OCD. 
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OCD Linked to Risk of Eating Disorders

New research suggests that physicians and other health workers should be more aware of the high risk of eating disorders among people who have OCD. As many as one in five people with OCD could have some form of disordered eating, as could one in three patients with other anxiety disorders.
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Parents’ Accommodations Can Worsen Children’s OCD

Parents of children with OCD who try to make the symptoms less impairing often reinforce the disorder. Researchers also found that the more severe a child’s OCD, the more a family seemed to accommodate OCD behaviors. During CBT sessions with the patients in this study, the parents also learned how to deal with their child’s OCD. (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, April 2009; 77(2:355-360)
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Chemical Identified as a Key Factor in Children With OCD

Researchers at the University of Michigan, Children's Hospital of Michigan and University of Toronto/ Hospital for Sick Kids discovered that the chemical, glutamate, plays a key role in children with OCD. This study showed that children with OCD had abnormal glutamate levels in key brain regions that were reversible with effective treatment.
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OCD Commonly Co-Occurs in Teens With Anorexia

Among the results of a study comparing teenagers with anorexia nervosa to a control group of healthy teens, findings show that 39 percent have at least one other psychiatric disorder in addition to their eating disorder—the most common being obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). (The British Journal of Psychiatry. 2009; 194:168-174)
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