This is a disorder characterized by involuntary facial or body movements or vocalizations. OCD is also commonly misdiagnosed, and there are many horror stories about people who have been wrongly diagnosed with Schizophrenia, Autism or Attention Deficit Disorder. Thorough evaluation by a specialist in OCD is essential to successful diagnosis and treatment. Causes OCD is caused by a brain chemical imbalance. However, it was observed that people who were prescribed the antidepressant Clomipramine, also noticed some relief of their OCD symptoms.
Clomipramine works by affecting brain serotonin.
Serotonin is chemical 'messenger' in the brain - a neurotransmitter. This led to the now widely accepted theory that OCD is caused at least partly by some abnormality in serotonin function. Serotonin cannot be easily measured in the body, but the serotonin hypothesis was investigated by a number of studies which measured the sensitivity of serotonin in people who had OCD, compared to those who did not. OCD is caused by a problem in brain functioning. This work is being carried out at UCLA and several other centers.