In spite of a range of theories and considerable research, scientists so far have not been able to identify a definite cause of OCD.
Biological factors relating to the possible causes of OCD are an area of considerable research and theory. However, despite the recognition that certain parts of the brain are different in OCD sufferers when compared with non-sufferers, it is still not known how these differences relate to the precise mechanisms of OCD. An imbalance in the neurotransmitter, or brain chemical, serotonin could be to blame. Serotonin is thought to be involved in regulating everything from anxiety, to memory, to sleep. Medications known as Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are often used to treat OCD.
Brain imaging studies have been used to show the differences between the brains of people with OCD and those without OCD, but the scientific community is split over whether what researchers have found is a cause for, or a result of, having the disorder.
Other research has revealed a great deal about the psychological factors that maintain OCD, which in turn has led to effective psychological treatment in the form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). For example, according to the Learning Theory, OCD symptoms are a result of a person developing learned negative thoughts and behaviour patterns, towards previously neutral situations, which can result from life experiences and socialisation processes. Some researchers believe that this theory questions the biological theory, because people may be born with a biological predisposition to OCD but never develop the full disorder, while others are born with the same predisposition but, when subject to sufficient learning experiences, develop OCD in a full blown form.
Formerly commonly accepted, but nowadays increasingly disregarded, the psychoanalytic theory suggests that OCD develops because of a person’s fixation arising from unconscious conflicts that arose from discomfort during infancy or childhood. This theory is now commonly disregarded due to the failure of psychoanalytic therapy to treat OCD.
Major stresses or traumatic life events may precipitate the onset of OCD. However, these are not thought to cause the OCD, but it is thought that they may trigger OCD in someone already predisposed to the disorder.
Depression is also sometimes thought to cause OCD, although again
opinion is split, with the majority of experts believing that depression
is often a symptom of OCD rather than a cause.
There is also an increasing body of evidence that the common childhood
bacterial infection known informally as strep throat is associated with
OCD. It is thought that the body's natural response to infection, the
production of certain antibodies, when directed to parts of the brain
might be linked in some way to Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric
Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infection (PANDAS). One theory
is that the strep throat infection might serve as a trigger for symptoms
in only those children who carry a particular gene or set of genes. It
is thought that if OCD results from a strep throat infection the symptoms
will start quickly, probably within one or two weeks.
Another interesting line of research is in the area of genetics, and recent studies have indicated that there may be a considerable genetic basis for OCD. Some research points to the likelihood that OCD sufferers will have a family member with the OCD or with one of the other disorders in the OCD ‘Spectrum’. However, the theory that OCD is inherited genetically is not conclusive - it does not necessarily occur for example, that identical twins both have OCD.
There is still a great deal of theoretical contention surrounding the definitive cause of OCD. However, all of the above theories offer compelling and highly informative insights, with the possibility that a combination of the theories may eventually identified as the actual cause of OCD. Whilst the cause is currently still being debated what is not in contention is the fact that OCD can be successfully treated.
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