Are musical obsessions a temporal lobe phenomenon?
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.
Zungu-Dirwayi
N
N
Department of Psychiatry, University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg, South Africa.
Hugo
F
F
van Heerden
B B
BB
Stein
D J
DJ
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