Elsevier

Psychiatry Research

Volume 198, Issue 1, 30 June 2012, Pages 176-177
Psychiatry Research

Letter to the Editor
Does Toxoplasma gondii play a role in obsessive–compulsive disorder?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2011.05.029Get rights and content

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  • Cited by (6)

    • Etiology of obsessions and compulsions: General and specific genetic and environmental factors

      2016, Psychiatry Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      Such stressors may be general in their effects; that is, being linked to the risk of developing many different kinds of psychopathology. Exposure to infectious agents (e.g., Toxoplasma gondii) have been speculated to be linked to OCD, although further research is needed (Taboas et al., 2012). Fig. 1 shows that some types of environmental factors are specifically associated with OC-related dysfunctional beliefs.

    • The relationship between pediatric obsessive compulsive disorder and Toxoplasma gondii

      2015, Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
      Citation Excerpt :

      OCD patients are assumed to have been born in the winter or early spring; however, blame has been placed on congenital toxoplasmosis. However, no such characteristic of OCD has been confirmed, and there is no causal relationship between OCD and T. gondii for this reason (Taboas, McKay, & Taylor, 2011). The present study has some limitations.

    • Reevaluating the Evidence for Toxoplasma gondii-Induced Behavioural Changes in Rodents

      2014, Advances in Parasitology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Under certain conditions, they found an association between the presence of T. gondii infection and the presence of lower neophobia (measured by novel food consumption and tendency to enter traps) and proposed that this lowered neophobia may render infected rats more susceptible to predation by cats. A fundamental problem with all observational studies is the difficulty in determining causation (see Taboas and McKay, 2012). If a correlation is found between the presence of naturally acquired T. gondii infection and certain behavioural traits in a host, does this mean that the parasite caused the change in behaviour or that the presence of these behavioural traits predisposed certain individuals to acquiring T. gondii infection?

    • Response to Taboas et al.

      2012, Psychiatry Research
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