Pathophysiology of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Insights from Normal Function and Neurotoxic Effects of Drugs, Infection, and Brain Injury

Clinical presentation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is summarized, and a theoretical model of the disorder and its neurobiology are described. The model is used to account for the observed pattern of clinical symptoms, for the pathophysiology of OCD, and for medical reports of OCD-like symptoms from neurotoxic effects of drugs, brain injury, and infection. The essential clinical feature of OCD is preoccupation with ideas and behaviors …