Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Patients report that ketamine infusions can be lifesaving, with immediate improvement for severe depression. But dosage and safety measures vary widely at the hundreds of clinics that have opened.

The ketamine economy: New mental health clinics are a 'Wild West' with few rules

5:00am January 30, 2024

by Dawn Megli

Ketamine, approved as an anesthetic in 1970, is emerging as a major alternative mental health treatment. But more than 500 clinics have popped up with little regulation, and treatment varies widely.

A pair of studies suggest that a customized approach to brain stimulation carries advantages in treating mental health conditions.

Health & Safety

Studies Suggest Benefits From A Personalized Approach To Brain Stimulation

1:34pm January 20, 2021

by Jon Hamilton

Two studies find that tailoring brain stimulation to a particular patient helps in treating depression and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

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Cleaning skills that only the most generous would have called "eccentric" in pre-pandemic times are actually useful as I try to keep myself and my immunocompromised housemate — my girlfriend — safe from catching the coronavirus. But being hypervigilan

Health & Safety

Obsession Or Just Good Hygiene? Keeping The Coronavirus And OCD At Bay

3:13pm June 13, 2020

by James Dawson

About 40% of people with obsessive compulsive disorder struggle, as I do, with contamination anxiety. Balancing the need to sanitize a home in pandemic times with the need to tame OCD can be tricky.

Kevin Wilson's previous books include The Family Fang, Perfect Little World and Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine.

For Author Kevin Wilson, Writing Offers A Brief Reprieve From Tourette's

4:28pm October 29, 2019

by Terry Gross

For Wilson, Tourette's syndrome means living with intrusive thoughts that flash disturbing images without warning. His novel, Nothing to See Here, was inspired by visions of spontaneous combustion.

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Depressed person and an image of neural networks in brain.

Health & Safety

Are We Ready For An Implant That Can Change Our Moods?

3:20pm March 29, 2019

Deep brain stimulation offers relief from some neurological problems and is being tested for mood disorders. But the treatment — an implant in the brain — raises ethical questions.

The teen protagonist in John Green's latest novel, Turtles All The Way Down, has a type of anxiety disorder that sends her into fearful "thought spirals" of bacterial infection and death.

For Novelist John Green, OCD Is Like An 'Invasive Weed' Inside His Mind

2:47pm October 19, 2017

by Terry Gross

"It starts out with one little thought, and then slowly that becomes the only thought that you're able to have," Green says. His new novel, Turtles All The Way Down, is about a teenage girl with OCD.

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'Ridiculous Fun' Helps A Blogger See Through Depression's Darkness

6:20am November 01, 2015

by Lynne Shallcross

Since childhood, humor writer Jenny Lawson has struggled with mental health issues. In her latest book, Furiously Happy, she explains what it means to fight back with spiteful happiness.

David Adam is a writer and editor at the journal Nature and was a special correspondent at the Guardian, writing about science, medicine and the environment.

Why OCD Is 'Miserable': A Science Reporter's Obsession With Contracting HIV

10:58am January 14, 2015

David Adam has had obsessive-compulsive disorder for 20 years. In The Man Who Couldn't Stop, he chronicles his experiences — and how medical understanding and treatment of OCD have changed over time.

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