Case study: obsessive-compulsive disorder after severe traumatic brain injury in an adolescent

The neurological underpinnings of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are still largely undetermined. We report a prospective case study of a young subject who developed OCD and impulsive aggression after traumatic brain injury. The implications are that frontal and temporal lobe lesions may be sufficient to precipitate OCD in the absence of clear striatal injury and that compulsivity and impulsivity may represent different psychophysiological states.