Obsessive Fears Arise in Response to Compulsions in OCD

The chicken-and-egg question regarding obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), for the most part, is usually answered by identifying obsessive fears as driving the behaviors such as repetitive hand-washing. A new study effectively reverses the order, finding that the repetitive behaviors themselves (the compulsions) might be the precursors to the disorder, and that obsessions may simply be the brain’s [...]