There is an area in brain which is responsible for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) risk in people. OCD is a psychiatric anxiety disorder. It causes recurrent and persistent thoughts and impulses such as uncontrollable and repeated hand washing. 2 to 3 percent of people are affected by it in the world.

The new discovery by the scientists will help to diagnose the debilitating disorder much earlier.

Samuel Chamberlain, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge said the new study is first of its kind to identify people at risk of OCD.
The study was done on 14 people with OCD and 12 immediate relatives without the disorder. They were given a flexible task to perform and their brain scanning was done in order to measure the activity in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex. It had revealed that if this special brain part is not working properly, there may be chances of OCD. The people without this disorder had normal brain activity.

The new study will help to identify the people with OCD risks and lead to development of biological marker to measure the magnitude of defect. A drug Prozac is currently being given to patients. Prozac belongs to special class of compounds called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). It was introduced by US drug maker Eli Lilly and Co introduced Prozac in 1987.