Genetics and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Symptoms

Abstract

Obsessive Compulsive disorder is a neuropsychiatric disorder, represented by having an obsession, compulsion or both causing severe distress to the person. It is a complex disorder, having multiple etiological factors responsible in its development. Many studies have provided strong evidence that OCD is clinically heterogeneous and this is likely due to its etiologic heterogeneity. Evidences suggest that neurobiology plays a significant role in the etiology of obsessive compulsive disorder. Available genetic data on OCD support this hypothesis, however the precise genes involved in OCD are not known and work in this area is ongoing. The heterogeneity of Obsessive compulsive disorder unfortunately obscures the findings of clinical, natural history and treatment response studies and complicates the search in this disorder. So, the ultimate goal is to delineate heritable OCD phenotypes that will facilitate the identification of genes important for the manifestation of these behaviors. Therefore, it is believed that the identification of subgroups that are genetically valid is extremely important for OCD research.