It is a very human thing to, at times, worry, ruminate, to experience self-doubt: “did I lock the door, did I give anyone this darn cold, what if ______” (fill-in the blank with any one of thousands of thoughts)? In most cases these episodes are infrequent, centered around a specific incident or situation, and our rational minds step in to interrupt the pattern and alleviate the concern. However, if we are able, for a moment, to put ourselves in the worst possible moments of those fairly typical situations - the brief panic and dread followed by an uncontrollable impulse to immediately take action - and then extend that feeling, and experience it over and over again, we’ll have an idea of the trauma that Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD, inflicts on those who suffer from it. It can be utterly debilitating for between two and three million Americans.

In this episode of What Makes Up Your Mind, you’re going to learn more about OCD, how to tell if you or someone you love may be challenged by it, and where to get help if you do. But most exciting, you’re going to learn about the ground-breaking research going on to understand how and why disorders like this one manifest in the brain, and some ground-breaking work to develop fast-acting treatments which, in early trials, have offered near miraculous, temporary relief.

More Information

• For more on Dr. Carolyn Rodriguez, who also serves as Associate Dean in the Office of Academic Affairs, as Consultation-Liaison at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, and Director of the Stanford Hoarding Disorders Research Program: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/carolyn-rodriguez
• Additional educational videos by Dr. Rodriguez in both English and Spanish via the Stanford Center for Health Education: OCD: Signs and Symptoms (English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zg6PEJHRoo (35K views) Trastorno obsesivo compulsivo (TOC) (Spanish) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf_mRF6M_Jk&t=83s OCD Treatment (English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4SGc64BwLM&t=2s (10K views)
• The Rodriguez Lab/ Translational Lab: https://med.stanford.edu/rodriguezlab.html
• To learn more and volunteer for clinical trials in Dr. Rodriguez’s lab: https://med.stanford.edu/rodriguezlab/research/healthy-volunteers.html [email protected], 650-723-4095
• For more on Stanford Psychiatry’s Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Program https://med.stanford.edu/ocd.html
• For clinical care at the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Clinic at Stanford https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/patient_care/ocd.html