OCD : A monster in my mind.

Obsessive compulsive disorder is more common than we think. However, many people live with mild levels of obsessive behaviour with no effects on their life. This programme features people whose obsessive thoughts have taken over their lives with devastating effects. The people featured have a range of worries from the fear of germs and disease to doubts about having harmed others. Uta Frith looks back at the history of OCD and speaks to people undertaking the lastest research into the condition. Trevor Robbins is conducting studies which link obsessive disorders to addictive disorders because he believes that in OCD patients there is a lack of cognifive flexibility, common also to people with an addiction. Paul Johns dissects a brain to show Frith which parts of the brain are most connected to OCD. Frith looks at the various treatments for OCD that have been used over the years including drug therapies and behaviour therapy. Frith observes as a woman plagued by OCD undergoes brain surgery which hopes to manipulate individual neurones. Susanne Ahmari demonstrates her work with optogenetics in mice. People suffering with OCD reflect on what their lives would be like without the condition.