4) biological approach to OCD

What are obsessions?

Persistent thoughts

What are compulsions?

Persistent behaviour

Example of OCD

Hoarding

Behavioural characteristics of OCD

Compulsions which are performed to reduce anxiety because they feel something dreadful will happen. Also avoidance- avoiding triggering situations

Emotional characteristics of OCD

Obsession and conclusions lead to anxiety and distress. Suffers are aware their behaviour is excessive and they feel shame about it.

What is OCD co-morbid with?

Depression

Cognitive characteristics of OCD

Obsessions, which may be frightening and inappropriate. Common obsessional themes include ideas, doubts, impulses and images eg fleeting sexual images. These thoughts are uncontrollable which creates anxiety

What did Lewis (1936) find?

That genes are involved in individual vulnerability to OCD. Observed that of his OCD patients, 37% had parents with OCD and 21% had sibilings with OCD

Imitation of using studies to assume OCD is biological?

Family members share both genes and aspects of their environment.

Therefore, it is difficult to establish whether OCD is inherited genetically or developed through shared environmental experiences.

This reduces the ability of family studies to establish a causal relationship.

Which genes create vulnerability to OCD?

SERT gene, and the 5HT1-D beta gene

What does the SERT gene do?

Controls the reputable of serotonin and creates lower level of neurotransmitters

What does OCD being a polygenic gene mean?

It’s not caused by one single gene but instead several genes. These genes include those associated with dopamine and seretonin. 230 different genes are involved in OCD

What does the neural explanations suggest about OCD?

Abnormal neurotransmitter levels and brain circuits are responsible for OCD symptoms

Why is OCD often co-morbid with depression?

Seretonin is believed to help regulate mood. If a person has low levels of serotonin then normal transmission of mood relevant information does not take place and mood, along with other mental processes is effected

How does the brain effect OCD?

The retinal lobe converts sensory information into thoughts and actions. The basal ganglia is involved in multiple processes including coordination of movement. In OCD, a leaky basal ganglia allows worries through to the thalamus and creates obsessions. The thalamus then converts the obsessive thought into a compulsion

What research support neural explanations for OCD

Evans et al (2004) found that patients with OCD exhibited ‘functional hyperactivity’ in orbital cortex compared to control, the degree of hyperactivity also correlates to symptoms of severity. Highly scientist due to control group and brain scan

Why are biological explanations supported by the success of biological treatment?

SSRIs reduced Symptoms of patients with OCD. This supports the neural explanations of OCD and suggests that neurotransmitters may be involved in the cause of condition

Why is seretonin and OCD only correlations?

Correlation does not mean causation

why is the biological explanation for OCD reductionist?

It does not consider the role of cognition and learning since some behaviourist have suggested that OCD may be learned and mantained through a two process theory. It’s over simplistic and fails to give a full explanation of condition

What alternative explanation might be better for OCD?

The diathesis stress explanation

What are SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)

The standard medical treatment used to tackle symptoms of OCD

How does SSRIs work?

An increase in serotonin is achieved by blocking the reuptake of seretonin at receptor sites, which increases the concentration at the post-synaptic membrane which prevents the re absorption and breakdown of seretonin in the process of synaptic transmission which increases seretonin level and reduces symptoms of OCD

What happens if SSRIs are not effective?

Other anti depressants drugs me be offered like tricyclics

What are side effects of SSRis?

Nausea, insonnia, weight gain, emotional blunting and sexual dysfunction

What are SSRis combined with?

Alongside CBT, the drugs works to reduce emotional symptoms so patient is better able to engage effectively in CBT

Why are drug therapies appropriate for a wide range of patients?

Prescribing and taking medication requires relatively little effort which means most people can use them, they also take less time to treat OCD making it cheaper

Why can drug treatment be seen as pharmogical strait jacket?

Drug treatment treat symptoms not the disorder, patients often relapse within a few weeks if meditation are stopped so patients are trapped into taking them

Why is treatment for OCD reductionist and deterministic?

The fact that treatment does not work in all cases suggests that seretonin levels are unlikely to be the only factor in OCD development