Late one night, sleepless, I lazily made use of the Web app on my Samsung and delved into the causes of OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Sheesh, when my therapist hinted that to my parents, I thought there was no hope. I already knew that OCD was caused my some disruptions in the brain- those kind of deep physical abnormalities seemed like horrors of the deepest Edgar Allan Poe short stories. I just couldn't imagine myself on an operating table, then waking up with nothing but a scar on my scalp and cookies and milk for my blood sugar, or something else all rainbow-y and smiles.

It was a possibility, though, a hint, so I relaxed. For the time being. I denied that my obsession with select cartoons, Sherlock Holmes and his knockoffs, and weight (a popular obsession) were caused by OCD.

I never used the OCD self help book my grandma got me for Christmas.

That night, not too long ago, with the pink comforter drawn to my chin and the pillow stained with drool (hey, everyone's done it), I found out that OCD can be caused by more than some neurons disfunctioning.

Sometimes, the disorder is triggered by the space between certain neurons being blocked by a certain chemical. The messages the neurons are carrying get mixed up, the frontal cortex (where thinking takes place) gets too many conflicting messages, and another gland tells the whole brain that something horrible will happen if the obsessive compulsion isn't carried out. Really, it's the emotions that the gland triggers while the process is being carried out that's to be afraid of- the emotions are the only things that are happening.

Another cause is more phycological. Obsessions can be used to block certain things out. The above paragraph stated that a gland tells the rest of the brain of some horror that will take place unless the person rubs the dishes clean or places the books in alphabetical order. In this cause- the Phsycological Cause, I title it- the horror is something more real.

Here, the brain is trying to ignore and stopper some trauma, or something of that sort. The obsession is the cork to the bottle, so to speak. If the obsession isn't carried out, memories of the trauma will woosh out, and that is the greatest horror of all, for the brain.

This made sense to me. I'd already come to some conclusion like that before, and the Phsycological Cause is a statement of my theory.

I believe that knowing the causes and triggers, at least something about a dilemma, helps loads when it comes to solving problems. This is why I'm not a therapist- I just relay information until I can get a degree, put in my two cents. Maybe, just maybe, I can help.