For a project assigned by my Biology teacher, Mrs. Lawrence, everyone in the class must choose one scientist to write a letter to. I have chosen Stefan Ursu. Dr. Ursu currently resides in Sacramento, California. I grew up with a severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Only recently have I begun to be comfortable talking about it. I used to be ashamed to be part of the 2.3 % of the world's population diagnosed with OCD. But upon overcoming and learning how to deal with the disorder I've begun to seriously consider dedicating my life to the subject. This is what drew me to Dr. Ursu.
In 1987 a man by the name of Pitman "proposed that a dysfunctional action-monitoring system in OCD might explain the patients' constant feeling that the outcomes of action are in conflict with the internal representation of those actions and their goals." It was then decided that this led to "feelings of incomplete performance." This would pose the need for correction of a component of the OCD in a patient. In 2000 more information was discovered to back up this hypothesis. This evidence is linked with the evidence suggesting the ACC's relevance to OCD. Using this information, Dr. Ursu and his team hypothesized that OCD patients' often show inability to complete tasks led to error in the ACC, but also provides "an explanation for the patients' constant doubting and need for repetitive action despite correct performance." In order to test this Ursu and his team compared the ACC's activity with fMRI in a group of OCD patients currently taking medication.
In the letter I will be writing to Dr. Ursu I plan to ask what inspired him to study OCD. I will also ask if he plans on doing anymore experiments in the near future concerning Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
