OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

From the work of Lewis Baxter, MD, UCLA, 1992

"A PICTURE SPEAKS 1000 WORDS"

Sometimes a picture does speak 1,000 words. A neuroimaging technique known as Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan) enables us to look at how the brain functions under different conditions and to compare the brains of people with a particular disorder to those who do not have the disorder.  

Take a look at the at the difference between the brain of someone without OCD (left image) and the brain of someone with OCD. The extensive red and yellow areas in the right image indicate a lot of brain activity -- too much activity. The person is thinking about something "over and over again."