Cambridge study finds relief mechanisms for OCD sufferers
- Seeing someone run their hands under hot water helps control impulsive action
- Findings could lead to video-based apps designed as therapy for sufferers
- These could help to combat other OCD impulses, such as repeatedly pulling hair
- OCD affects 3.3 million people in the US and 750,000 people in the UK
Claudia Tanner
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Stephen Matthews For Mailonline
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Watching other people wash their hands may provide relief to sufferers of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Just seeing someone run their hands under hot water helps control their impulsive action, new research suggests.
The findings, led by Cambridge University scientists, could lead to video-based apps designed solely for sufferers.
If proven in further trials, the technique could help to combat other strange OCD impulses, such as repeatedly pulling hair.
People who have OCD may find relief from their urges by watching a video of themselves or others doing it instead (file photo)
Study author and neuroscientist Baland Jalal said: ‘Watching a video of someone washing their hands might be enough to reduce the urge to perform the action in real life. We could put these videos into an app.
‘For instance, we might be able to give people who pull their hair out obsessively relief from their urge by watching a video of themselves doing it instead.
‘It might at least act as a kind of benign substitute that’s used alongside more conventional treatments.’?
Key findings
Researchers studied 10 patients who wash their hands compulsively because of their disgust when touching things.
Each of the participants were shown various items that would trigger their OCD symptoms, New Scientist reports.
They ranged from a bag of vomit, blood-soaked bandages or faeces on toilet paper. However, all were fake.
While wearing latex gloves, volunteers or one of the researchers were asked to touch an object for 15 seconds.
OCD MAKES SUICIDE 10 TIMES MORE LIKELY
Patients with OCD are 10 times more likely to commit suicide, a study found in July.
The research contradicted previous beliefs that OCD did very little to drive suicidal thoughts.
About 90 per cent of people who commit suicide are believed to suffer from mental disorders.
But few studies investigated OCD as one of those disorders – until the Karolinska Institutet one.
They analyzed data from the Swedish national registers, spanning over 40 years, to make the finding.
All felt disgusted when watching a researcher touch one – but were relieved just by watching them wash their hands.
The findings, published in the journal Neurocase, remained true even when the participant had been the one to touch the object.
Patients even dictated how the researcher should clean their hands, telling them to wash more on one side.
OCD is characterised by unwanted and irrational thoughts and fears that can prevent sufferers thinking about anything else.
This often compels them to carry out repetitive behaviours in an attempt to combat their anxiety.
It is one of the most common psychiatric conditions, affecting 3.3 million people in the US and 750,000 people in the UK.
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