How many times have you looked at a kid meticulously lining up a
series of blocks, or refusing to eat anything green on their
plate, or carefully putting on their socks in just the right way
(because, duh, otherwise the seams press into their toes!) and
thought, "Man, that kid is going to be totally OCD when she
grows up." Well, it turns out you might not be that far off.
According to new research conducted by Professor Reuven Dar of
Tel Aviv University, there is a strong connection between
children who are hypersensitive and focus on following strict
rituals and adults who suffer from obsessive-compulsive
disorder. Professor Dar found that there is a direct correlation
between the way our nervous systems process sensory input and
our development of ritualistic behaviors: When children
experience heightened levels of sensitivity, they develop
ritualistic behaviors to better cope with their environment. In
the long term, this is one potential pathway to OCD. Professor
Dar conducted two different studies to det