Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Neurobiology and Treatment of OCD: Accelerating Progress pp 17–30Cite as

On the Development of OCD

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences ((CTBN,volume 49))

Abstract

OCD most often arises before adulthood with adolescence being a particularly vulnerable period. This is also a time when both brain and cognition undergo fundamental developmental change and reorganisation. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms that drive the emergence of OCD during development are still largely unknown. In this chapter, I review the relatively sparse literature on the developmental aspects of OCD and I discuss the symptomatic, cognitive and neural patterns in OCD and the developing mind. I highlight how we need to understand the emergence of cognitive impairments and neural alteration in a developmental context if we want to understand more about the mechanisms that give rise to OCD. Moreover, I outline how we best approach this challenge to overcome the current limitations in research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Benatti B, Camuri G, Dell’Osso B, Cremaschi L, Sembira E, Palazzo C, Oldani L, Dobrea C, Arici C, Primavera D, Carpiniello B, Castellano F, Carrà G, Clerici M, Baldwin DS, Altamura AC (2016) Which factors influence onset and latency to treatment in generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder? Int Clin Psychopharmacol 31:347–352

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boedhoe PSW et al (2016) Distinct subcortical volume alterations in pediatric and adult OCD: a worldwide meta- and mega-analysis. Am J Psychiatry 174:60–69. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16020201

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Boedhoe PSW et al (2018) Cortical abnormalities associated with pediatric and adult obsessive-compulsive disorder: findings from the ENIGMA obsessive-compulsive disorder working group. Am J Psychiatry 175:453–462

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brem S, Hauser TU, Iannaccone R, Brandeis D, Drechsler R, Walitza S (2012) Neuroimaging of cognitive brain function in paediatric obsessive compulsive disorder: a review of literature and preliminary meta-analysis. J Neural Transm Vienna Austria 119:1425–1448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlisi CO, Norman L, Murphy CM, Christakou A, Chantiluke K, Giampietro V, Simmons A, Brammer M, Murphy DG, Mataix-Cols D, Rubia K (2017) Comparison of neural substrates of temporal discounting between youth with autism spectrum disorder and with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychol Med 47:2513–2527

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Daw ND, Gershman SJ, Seymour B, Dayan P, Dolan RJ (2011) Model-based influences on humans’ choices and striatal prediction errors. Neuron 69:1204–1215

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Debener S, Ullsperger M, Siegel M, Fiehler K, von Cramon DY, Engel AK (2005) Trial-by-trial coupling of concurrent electroencephalogram and functional magnetic resonance imaging identifies the dynamics of performance monitoring. J Neurosci 25:11730–11737

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Decker JH, Otto AR, Daw ND, Hartley CA (2016) From creatures of habit to goal-directed learners: tracking the developmental emergence of model-based reinforcement learning. Psychol Sci 27:848–858

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Drechsler R, Hauser TU, Iannaccone R, Brandeis D, Walitza S, Brem S (2015) Dealing with uncertainty – decision-making, executive function and cognitive style in adolescents with ADHD compaired to adolescents with OCD

    Google Scholar 

  • Erhan C, Bulut GÇ, Gökçe S, Ozbas D, Turkakin E, Dursun OB, Yazgan Y, Balcı F (2017) Disrupted latent decision processes in medication-free pediatric OCD patients. J Affect Disord 207:32–37

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farrell L, Barrett P, Piacentini J (2006) Obsessive–compulsive disorder across the developmental trajectory: clinical correlates in children, adolescents and adults. Behav Change 23:103–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fineberg NA, Hengartner MP, Bergbaum C, Gale T, Rössler W, Angst J (2013a) Lifetime comorbidity of obsessive-compulsive disorder and sub-threshold obsessive-compulsive symptomatology in the community: impact, prevalence, socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract 17:188–196

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fineberg NA, Hengartner MP, Bergbaum C, Gale T, Rössler W, Angst J (2013b) Remission of obsessive-compulsive disorders and syndromes; evidence from a prospective community cohort study over 30 years. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract 17:179–187

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fineberg NA, Hengartner MP, Bergbaum CE, Gale TM, Gamma A, Ajdacic-Gross V, Rössler W, Angst J (2013c) A prospective population-based cohort study of the prevalence, incidence and impact of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract 17:170–178

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fineberg NA et al (2019) Early intervention for obsessive compulsive disorder: an expert consensus statement. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol J Eur Coll Neuropsychopharmacol 29:549–565

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frank MJ (2011) Computational models of motivated action selection in corticostriatal circuits. Curr Opin Neurobiol 21:381–386

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geller D, Biederman J, Jones J, Park K, Schwartz S, Shapiro S, Coffey B (1998) Is juvenile obsessive-compulsive disorder a developmental subtype of the disorder? A review of the pediatric literature. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 37:420–427

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geller DA, Biederman J, Faraone S, Agranat A, Cradock K, Hagermoser L, Kim G, Frazier J, Coffey BJ (2001) Developmental aspects of obsessive compulsive disorder: findings in children, adolescents, and adults. J Nerv Ment Dis 189:471–477

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gillan CM, Robbins TW (2014) Goal-directed learning and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 369

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillan CM, Kosinski M, Whelan R, Phelps EA, Daw ND (2016) Characterizing a psychiatric symptom dimension related to deficits in goal-directed control. eLife 5

    Google Scholar 

  • Gogtay N, Giedd JN, Lusk L, Hayashi KM, Greenstein D, Vaituzis AC, Nugent TF, Herman DH, Clasen LS, Toga AW, Rapoport JL, Thompson PM (2004) Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101:8174–8179

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gottwald J, de Wit S, Apergis-Schoute AM, Morein-Zamir S, Kaser M, Cormack F, Sule A, Limmer W, Morris AC, Robbins TW, Sahakian BJ (2018) Impaired cognitive plasticity and goal-directed control in adolescent obsessive–compulsive disorder. Psychol Med 48:1900–1908

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Grünblatt E, Hauser TU, Walitza S (2014) Imaging genetics in obsessive-compulsive disorder: linking genetic variations to alterations in neuroimaging. Prog Neurobiol 121:114–124

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Haber SN, Knutson B (2010) The reward circuit: linking primate anatomy and human imaging. Neuropsychopharmacol Off Publ Am Coll Neuropsychopharmacol 35:4–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser TU, Fiore VG, Moutoussis M, Dolan RJ (2016) Computational psychiatry of ADHD: neural gain impairments across Marrian levels of analysis. Trends Neurosci

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauser TU, Iannaccone R, Dolan RJ, Ball J, Hättenschwiler J, Drechsler R, Rufer M, Brandeis D, Walitza S, Brem S (2017a) Increased fronto-striatal reward prediction errors moderate decision making in obsessive–compulsive disorder. Psychol Med:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauser TU, Moutoussis M, Iannaccone R, Brem S, Walitza S, Drechsler R, Dayan P, Dolan RJ (2017b) Increased decision thresholds enhance information gathering performance in juvenile obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). PLoS Comput Biol 13:e1005440

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser TU, Will G-J, Dubois M, Dolan RJ (2018) Annual research review: developmental computational psychiatry. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jcpp.12964. Accessed 22 Oct 2018

  • Holroyd CB, Coles MGH (2002) The neural basis of human error processing: reinforcement learning, dopamine, and the error-related negativity. Psychol Rev 109:679–709

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huyser C, Veltman DJ, de Haan E, Boer F (2009) Paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder, a neurodevelopmental disorder? Evidence from neuroimaging. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 33:818–830

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huyser C, van den Heuvel OA, Wolters L, de Haan E, Lindauer R, Veltman DJ (2014) A longitudinal VBM study in paediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder at 2-year follow-up after cognitive behavioural therapy. World J Biol Psychiatry 15:443–452

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hybel KA, Mortensen EL, Lambek R, Thastum M, Thomsen PH (2017) Cool and hot aspects of executive function in childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder. J Abnorm Child Psychol 45:1195–1205

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE (2005) Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62:593–602

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kiddle B, Inkster B, Prabhu G, Moutoussis M, Whitaker KJ, Bullmore ET, Dolan RJ, Fonagy P, Goodyer IM, Jones PB (2017) Cohort profile: the NSPN 2400 cohort: a developmental sample supporting the Wellcome Trust NeuroScience in psychiatry network. Int J Epidemiol. https://academic.oup.com/ije/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ije/dyx117/4644452. Accessed 22 Nov 2017

  • Loosen AM, Hauser TU (2020) Towards a computational psychiatry of juvenile obsessive-compulsive disorder. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 118:631–642

    Google Scholar 

  • Maia TV, Frank MJ (2011) From reinforcement learning models to psychiatric and neurological disorders. Nat Neurosci 14:154–162

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Maia TV, Cooney RE, Peterson BS (2008) The neural bases of obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adults. Dev Psychopathol 20:1251–1283

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Marzuki AA, Pereira de Souza AMFL, Sahakian BJ, Robbins TW (2019) Are candidate neurocognitive endophenotypes of OCD present in paediatric patients? A systematic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976341930908X. Accessed 13 Dec 2019

  • Montague PR, Dolan RJ, Friston KJ, Dayan P (2012) Computational psychiatry. Trends Cogn Sci 16:72–80

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moses-Payne ME, Habicht J, Bowler A, Steinbeis N, Hauser TU (2020) I know better! Emerging metacognition allows adolescents to ignore false advice. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/gb9f4

  • Norman LJ, Carlisi CO, Christakou A, Murphy CM, Chantiluke K, Giampietro V, Simmons A, Brammer M, Mataix-Cols D, Rubia K (2018) Frontostriatal dysfunction during decision making in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 3:694–703

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Paus T (2005) Mapping brain maturation and cognitive development during adolescence. Trends Cogn Sci 9:60–68

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pingault J-B, Tremblay RE, Vitaro F, Carbonneau R, Genolini C, Falissard B, Côté SM (2011) Childhood trajectories of inattention and hyperactivity and prediction of educational attainment in early adulthood: a 16-year longitudinal population-based study. Am J Psychiatry 168:1164–1170

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pingault J-B, Viding E, Galéra C, Greven CU, Zheng Y, Plomin R, Rijsdijk F (2015) Genetic and environmental influences on the developmental course of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms from childhood to adolescence. JAMA Psychiat 72:651–658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pingault J-B, O’Reilly PF, Schoeler T, Ploubidis GB, Rijsdijk F, Dudbridge F (2018) Using genetic data to strengthen causal inference in observational research. Nat Rev Genet 19:566–580

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen SA, Eisen JL (1992) The epidemiology and clinical features of obsessive compulsive disorder. Psychiatr Clin North Am 15:743–758

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins TW, Gillan CM, Smith DG, de Wit S, Ersche KD (2012) Neurocognitive endophenotypes of impulsivity and compulsivity: towards dimensional psychiatry. Trends Cogn Sci 16:81–91

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shafran R (2003) Obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents. In: obsessive-compulsive disorder: theory, research and treatment. Wiley, Hoboken

    Google Scholar 

  • Smid C, Kool W, Hauser TU, Steinbeis N (n.d.) Model-based decision-making and its cost/benefit arbitration in childhood. (In prep)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart SE, Rosario MC, Baer L, Carter AS, Brown TA, Scharf JM, Illmann C, Leckman JF, Sukhodolsky D, Katsovich L, Rasmussen S, Goodman W, Delorme R, Leboyer M, Chabane N, Jenike MA, Geller DA, Pauls DL (2008) Four-factor structure of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms in children, adolescents, and adults. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 47:763–772

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor S (2011) Early versus late onset obsessive-compulsive disorder: evidence for distinct subtypes. Clin Psychol Rev 31:1083–1100

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vaghi MM, Vasa F, Moutoussis MM, Kievit R, Hauser TU, Vertes PE, Shahar N, Romero-Garcia R, Kitzbichler MG, Bullmore ET, NSPN Consortium, Dolan RJ (2020) Compulsivity disrupts adolescent development of goal-directed control and fronto-striatal functional connectivity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA

    Google Scholar 

  • van den Heuvel OA, van der Werf YD, Verhoef KMW, de Wit S, Berendse HW, Wolters EC, Veltman DJ, Groenewegen HJ (2010) Frontal-striatal abnormalities underlying behaviours in the compulsive-impulsive spectrum. J Neurol Sci 289:55–59

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vloet TD, Marx I, Kahraman-Lanzerath B, Zepf FD, Herpertz-Dahlmann B, Konrad K (2010) Neurocognitive performance in children with ADHD and OCD. J Abnorm Child Psychol 38:961–969

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walitza S, Wendland JR, Gruenblatt E, Warnke A, Sontag TA, Tucha O, Lange KW (2010) Genetics of early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 19:227–235

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walitza S, Brem S, Hauser TU, Grünblatt E (2014) Wie biologisch sind Zwangsstörungen? Kindh Entwickl 23:75–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walitza S, Van Ameringen M, Geller D (2019) Early detection and intervention for obsessive-compulsive disorder in childhood and adolescence. Lancet Child Adolesc Health

    Google Scholar 

  • Weil LG, Fleming SM, Dumontheil I, Kilford EJ, Weil RS, Rees G, Dolan RJ, Blakemore S-J (2013) The development of metacognitive ability in adolescence. Conscious Cogn 22:264–271

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Whitaker KJ et al (2016) Adolescence is associated with genomically patterned consolidation of the hubs of the human brain connectome. Proc Natl Acad Sci 113:9105–9110

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Woelbert E, Kirtley A, Balmer N, Dix S (2019) How much is spent on mental health research: developing a system for categorising grant funding in the UK. Lancet Psychiatry 6:445–452

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler G, Hauser TU, Moutoussis M, Bullmore ET, Goodyer IM, Fonagy P, Jones PB, Lindenberger U, Dolan RJ, NSPN Consortium (2019) Compulsivity and impulsivity traits linked to attenuated developmental frontostriatal myelination trajectories. Nat Neurosci 22:992–999

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zohar AH (1999) The epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am 8:445–460

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

TUH is supported by a Wellcome Sir Henry Dale Fellowship (211155/Z/18/Z), a grant from the Jacobs Foundation (2017-1261-04), the Medical Research Foundation, and a 2018 NARSAD Young Investigator grant (27023) from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. The Max Planck UCL Centre is a joint initiative supported by UCL and the Max Planck Society. The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging is supported by core funding from the Wellcome Trust (203147/Z/16/Z).

Conflict of Interest

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, UK

    T. U. Hauser

  2. Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK

    T. U. Hauser

Authors
  1. T. U. Hauser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. U. Hauser .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Health Services and Clinical Research, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK

    Naomi A. Fineberg

  2. Department of Psychology and Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Trevor W. Robbins

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hauser, T.U. (2021). On the Development of OCD. In: Fineberg, N.A., Robbins, T.W. (eds) The Neurobiology and Treatment of OCD: Accelerating Progress. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 49. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2020_195

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation