Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), a disorder that causes repetitive thoughts and actions, as well as deep anxiety, affects two to three million adults and half a million children in the United States. OCD may result from many things, including genetics and traumatiz¬ing or tragic events. Brett Larson was affected by OCD and has now become a success story because of his cure. For Brett Larson, OCD be¬came prominent in his life when he learned that his father had passed away at the age of 10. Habits soon became to plague him because of the anxiety built up inside of him. Soon, these habits grew more severe, officially diagnosing Brett with OCD at the young age of 12.
Essentially, OCD disabled Brett’s speech and created negative habits that took hours away from his life, thereby causing Brett and his mother to desperately search for a cure. At the end of their search, Brett and his mother finally came across a possible cure, Deep Brain Stimulation. By sending electrodes into his brain, the procedure gave Brett the ability to speak with more clarity and reduced the se¬verity of habits that plagued him Brett every day.
The disease ruined Brett’s life, as he can¬not hold down a steady job and rarely sees his close friends. His personality became noticeably more monotone and distressed, and his speech began to lose confidence. He frustratingly tried everything in the past, from medication combinations, to cognitive behav¬ioral therapy, to specialist visits, and even hos¬pitalization. None of them were as effective as Deep Brain Stimulation. How it works is that the electrodes literally alter the electric field around regions of the brain that are thoughts to influence the particular disease. Depend¬ing on the situation and patient, the electrodes either amplify it or dampen it, with the ultimate goal of relieving the symptoms associated with the disease or condition. The process is still being refined and studied because “the precise mechanism is not well understood, “according to Dr. Frank Hsu, professor and chair of the department of neurosurgery at University of California, Irvine. Risks include the possibility of bleeding in the brain, stroke, and infection. Regardless, this is positive news for millions of people who are suffering from OCD, as well as other fatal diseases, such as depression.