Abnormal Psychology #3 Flashcards
Persistent Tic
25% of kids have transient tic, and it goes away. Only 1% experiences persistent tic.
On the OCD spectrum
Obsession and Compulsion
Obsession: intrusion, uncontrollable, unwanted
Compulsion: actions that neutralize obsession
Compulsions neutralizes the obsessions
Work temporarily, temporary escape
OCD Symptoms
A. Obsession and or compulsion (98% have both)
B. Time consuming (>1hr/day), cause significant distress, avoidance of situations and activities that prompt obsessions
C.D. Not due to substance, medical condition, or other mental disorder
OCD Symptom Domains
- Symmetry/order
- Contamination/dirt/germ
- Hoarding
- Harm
- Aggressive/sexual/religious
OCD: POC
Prevalence • 2% lifetime prevalence • Roughly equal female to male ratio Onset • Bimodal age of onset: • Age 10‐12; late adolescence to early adulthood Course • Usually chronic if untreated
OCD self-awareness
They mostly know it’s an unfounded fear, but have it nonetheless
4% has this consciousness absent
Biological Causes of OCD
Genetics: moderate heritability
Brain: increased metabolic activity in basal ganglia, orbital frontal cortex
Neurotransmitters: serotonin, and likely glutamate, GABA and dopamine
Psychological Causes of OCD
Learning
Abnormal responses to normal thoughts: appraisal of thoughts (over-reacting), thought suppression
Memory deficit (lack of confidence of memory)
Mowrer’s Two Factor Theory
Something gets labeled as bad, anxious when confronting
Ritualizes to reduce anxiety to prevent bad outcome, negatively reinforce
Abnormal response to normal bad thoughts
84% of a sample of undergraduates reported having regular, intrusive, unacceptable thoughts and impulses
Rachman & Silva, 1978; Baer, 2001
Every human being is visited from time to time by the Imp of the Perverse who makes you think the most inappropriate thought at the most inappropriate times.
Lee, Baer, Ph.D., 2001, p. 6
OCD Belief about thoughts
Bad thoughts reflect character
Thoughts SHOULD be controlled
Thought-action fusion
Thought suppression
Daniel Wegner: white bears
Suppression makes you think even more
Memory deficit
van den Hout & Kindt, 2003
OCD have no problem with their memory, but there is a problem with their confidence
Experiment: checking virtual stoves.
Results: repeated checking causes memory deficit
Environmental factors in OCD
Stress: times of heightened responsibility or loss of control, though 40% have no identifiable precipitant
Infection: PANDAS
OCD Treatment
CBT: exposure and response prevention
Medication: clomipramine, SSRI
Severe patients: DBS
Experimental: TMS Glutamatergic medication
Tourette
Born with Ticks, kicking, twitching, snapping
Doing uncontrollable things
Can’t help it, not contagious
Eating disorder spectrum
Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder
Can and often overlap and change
Anorexia Nervosa
Extreme caloric restriction
Relentless pursuit of thinness
Desperate fear, try to avoid by all means
Anorexia diagnosis
A. Restriction of energy, extreme low body weight in the context. BMI<17.5
B. Intense fear of gaining weight, behavior that interferes with weight gain
C. Disturbance in the way in which one’s body is experienced, body influence impact on self-evaluation
Anorexia subtypes
Restricting: last 3 months, had not engaged in binge eating or purging
Binge/purging: past 3 months, recurrent binge (out of control) or purging (self-induced vomiting)
Anorexia Nervosa: POC
Prevalence
• Lifetime prevalence of 0.9 % for women; 0.3% for men
• Much more common among women than men
• More common in some populations (e.g., dancers, gymnasts, models, wrestlers, gay men)
Onset
• Usually begins between 16 and 20 years old
• Often starts as a diet
Course
• Highly variable
• High rates of death from medical complications and suicide
• Recovery is also entirely possible
Anorexia: follow up
21 year follow-up study 52% fully recovered 22% partially recovered 10% not recovered 16% deceased, primarily from starvation or suicide
Bulimia Nervosa
Out of control binging and compensatory behaviors but not underweight
Binge
out of control eating, much more than one would normally eat, can eat close to 5000 calories in less than 2 hours