The causes of obsessive compulsive disorder are murky at best, but Wayne Goodman, MD, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, says one risk factor is family history. Find out more in this video.
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In terms of the causes of OCD, there's undoubtedly a genetic component, there's a component that's inherited. We have not identified the gene or genes that are responsible. There's no definitive genetic cause of OCD. If you see a patient who had very early onset of OCD, say in early childhood, and one of their parents had OCD and on top of that may be either that patient or their parents also had a tic disorder, it's very likely that it was inherited.
But we still have not identified the specific gene.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental illness where frequent obsessive thoughts cause obsessive, destructive actions like hand-washing. Counseling and medications can help patients manage OCD.
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