Potentially a contribution to understanding brain disorders. I very much like the scientists' scientific caveats, their 'mays' and 'appears to be"s. Correlation studies need to be contextualised in conceptual mapping.

Whoopsadaisy! I meant 'anxiety disorders', not 'brain disorders'. A freudian slip perhaps (brains are meaty and sticky, conceptual words ethereal and thin). Or more likely not enough coffee yet!

OK, so what do we do with this knowledge? Do we treat these people like they are broken and need to be fixed, or are they asking for relief from an anxiety disorder, is there a way to treat it? Whats next? I mean very cool stuff to know, but how do we use it without degrading the human being involved? Most OCD people are very creative and we stand to lose art, music and science at the caliber that we are used to having it. I'm OCD to an extent and I have never felt like I suffer from it- It drives the artist side of me, and I wouldn't change a thing- Still understanding the way the brain really works can lead to cures for Alzheimer's, or Parkinson's and so on. I'm for it as long as the treatments don't become mandatory.

unfortunately anything labeled as a "disorder" has a stigma attached to it.

I would say as long as the OCD doesn't affect the quality of a person's life, then they don't need treatment for it.

I go with debb on that. I don't know what my condition was. But I know the drugs they gave me made my life far worse.

OCD is classed as an anxiety disorder. 'Anxiety' covers a huge range of meanings, as does the word depression. I fully agree with some of the above comments that drugs are not the answer for everybody, and some people need no treatment at all. I think one point does need emphasising though which is that severe anxiety/depression can be devestating for an individual, and are not to be confused with the milder kinds we all may experience. As pointed out, the articles themselves contain healthy caveats. The news of the research MAY further CONTRIBUTIONS to a very complex field of research. My own work in the mental health field supports a belief that too great afocus on brain chemistry and drug 'cures' is unhealthy and unhelpful.