J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1990; 2:319-322
Copyright © 1990 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Brain-mapping abnormalities in a family with three obsessive compulsive children
JS Silverman and SG Loychik
Department of Psychiatry, Altoona Hospital, Pennsylvania.
Brain electrical activity mapping (BEAM) and personality disorder
assessment (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II) were performed on a
married couple and their four children. Three of the children had
previously been identified as having obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Temporal lobe abnormalities were found in all four children but in neither
parent. If there is a neurophysiologic basis for this subtype of OCD, brain
electrical abnormalities may be necessary, but not sufficient, to produce
the clinical syndrome. Delineation of specific electrophysiological and
personality characteristics may help define subtypes of obsessive
compulsive disorder.
