https://mindlab-blog-drafts.pages.dev/tags/compulsive-behavior/Recent content in Compulsive Behavior on MindLAB Neuroscience — Draft ReviewHugo -- 0.156.0en-us2026 Dr. Sydney Ceruto — MindLAB NeuroscienceTue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://mindlab-blog-drafts.pages.dev/posts/glutamate-and-ocd/Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://mindlab-blog-drafts.pages.dev/posts/glutamate-and-ocd/<h1 id="glutamate-gaba-and-ocd--the-chemical-imbalance-that-keeps-your-brain-hyperactive">Glutamate, GABA, and OCD — The Chemical Imbalance That Keeps Your Brain Hyperactive</h1> <p><img alt="Cortical circuitry locked in a hyperexcitable firing state — Dr. Sydney Ceruto, MindLAB Neuroscience." loading="lazy" src="https://mindlab-blog-drafts.pages.dev/images/posts/glutamate-and-ocd-hero.webp"></p> <p>The relationship between glutamate and OCD is fundamentally a story of cortical hyperexcitation. 7-Tesla magnetic resonance spectroscopy has detected elevated glutamate and reduced GABA in the anterior cingulate cortex of individuals with OCD. The imbalance produces sustained firing in cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical loops — the circuits whose terminations a healthy brain can release.</p>https://mindlab-blog-drafts.pages.dev/posts/why-ocd-gets-worse-over-time/Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://mindlab-blog-drafts.pages.dev/posts/why-ocd-gets-worse-over-time/<h1 id="why-ocd-gets-worse-over-time--the-neural-architecture-of-compulsive-escalation">Why OCD Gets Worse Over Time — The Neural Architecture of Compulsive Escalation</h1> <p><img alt="Cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical loop consolidating through repeated firing — Dr. Sydney Ceruto, MindLAB Neuroscience." loading="lazy" src="https://mindlab-blog-drafts.pages.dev/images/posts/why-ocd-gets-worse-over-time-hero.webp"></p> <p>OCD gets worse over time because the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical loop physically rewires each time a compulsion fires. The circuit follows Hebbian logic — neurons that fire together wire together — and the repetition shifts compulsions from anxiety-driven decisions in the ventral striatum to automatic motor programs in the dorsal striatum. The loop becomes harder to interrupt because it has become more efficient.</p>