title: Are musical obsessions a temporal lobe phenomenon?
abstract: Obsessive musical tunes have been described in some cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The authors present 2 cases of patients with musical obsessions, including findings from functional brain imaging. Both patients, 1 with idiopathic OCD and 1 with symptoms secondary to head trauma, demonstrated decreased blood flow in temporal lobes. This finding is consistent with previous literature on musical and auditory hallucinations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg, South Africa.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zungu-Dirwayi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hugo
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: van Heerden
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon