EAPSI: Developing a Predictive Model for Compulsive Behavior in Individuals with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Fields Lindsay D, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

The most often used method of diagnosing Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is the Yale-Brown scale, however the scale only considers the quantifiable time and energy lost to compulsions, while also relying on potentially false self-reporting. Furthermore, OCD differs significantly from other anxiety disorders by the existence of compulsive behavior. Therefore, current means of diagnosing and treating OCD cannot be measured by their effectiveness in treating other anxiety disorders. This research is focused on developing a predictive model of compulsive behavior based upon Minsky's Society of Mind. The objective is to develop a model which would predict the probability of an individual performing compulsive behavior. The research has applications both in understanding pervasive anxiety, and in treating the physical consequences therein. This project will be conducted at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Kyoto, Japan under the mentorship of Dr. Takashi Nakamae. The collaboration provides access to unique data that will enable new insights into compulsive behavior. By considering each neurological agent as an automaton, which has a certain probability of reacting to an environmental stimulus and moving into an excited state, it is possible to observe the system?s behavior. By applying this concept continually, with agents given by the sectors of the worry circuit, a computer algorithm was designed which implied that the number of compulsions performed could be predicted using a threshold cellular automaton. Later revisions of the model may potentially take into consideration probabilistic determination of playing order, as well as utilizing a function of the number of compulsions already performed to determine the probability of each agent reacting to a stimulus. A successful method must be capable of empirically quantifying compulsivity, however it has the potential to improve the therapeutic treatment of OCD. Additionally, by including a variant for the subject?s average number of compulsions, the model may be customized and thus provide a more personal means of treatment. Finally, the proposed research has implications for brain mapping; by detailing the nature of compulsivity, scientists may be able to isolate the direct functions of the worry circuit which could give us clues into brain cell function. This award, under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.