HOUSTON – Researchers from around the world met Friday to discuss treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with a brain surgery called deep brain stimulation (DBS).
The surgery has been used many times before for tremors (like when someone has Parkinson’s.)
Baylor College of Medicine doctors have seen success treating OCD with DBS, which is promising for patients who aren’t successful with other treatments.
Katie Whitson agreed to speak with KPRC 2 for an interview in a hotel restaurant, something she admits was impossible two years ago. Being anywhere she didn’t disinfect herself was something that made her anxious and fearful. She said she remembers having OCD as a child, but it got to be the worst it’s ever been when she was in her 20s.
“The OCD was just growing and growing and had really taken over everything. I was unrecognizable to myself, to my family, to my friends,” Whitson said almost in tears. “It just really took over every aspect of my life.”
Whitson became part of a research study done at Baylor College of Medicine where surgeons and psychiatrists are using DBS to treat treatment-resistant OCD.
Doctors place electrodes in the brain and can adjust them from outside of the body.
“In the same way that I might adjust the dosage of a medication, I adjust the dose of the stimulation to their brain,” said Dr. Wayne Goodman, Baylor College of Medicine Chair of Psychiatry.
Dr. Greenwood said DBS can improve OCD in 2/3 of patients who undergo the operation.
“It can work very rapidly. So, obviously, it’s not a cure for everybody, even the patients that do well, I wouldn’t say it’s a cure, but it makes enormous differences in their quality of life,” Dr. Goodman said.
Whitson said she tried numerous intensive therapies before DBS but none could improve compulsive behavior until after the operation.
She said it didn’t make OCD go away, but she was finally able to successfully have it treated.
“After going through the DBS and then ERP again, I am able to recognize it coming up with the obsessions and compulsions and recognize it for what it is and kind of move on. Let it be there but move on,” she said.
Whitson said in the first month after surgery, she felt relief from depression (which she hadn’t associated with OCD before), and about a year later, she felt free from the paralyzing effects of OCD.
Her doctors are hoping with more awareness and research more insurance companies will cover the costs associated with DBS so more OCD patients will have this as an option.
Dr. Goodman said if the procedure doesn’t work, it can be reversed without damage to the brain.