Biological Approach To Explaining and treating Ocd

Question 1

What did Lewis find

Answer 1

That of his OCD patients, 37% had patients with OCD and 21% had siblings with OCF

Question 2

OCD is polygenetic , explain this

Answer 2

• meaning that up to 230 different genes are involved in its development
• these are often associated with the functioning of neurotransmitters , such as dopamine and serotonin - both associated with regulating mood

Question 3

Explain the supporting evidence from twin studies

Answer 3

• Nestadt reviewed previous twin studies of OCD and found that 68% of identical twins , compared to 31% of non identical twins share OCD
• this strongly suggest that there is a genetic basis for OCD as identical twins share 100% of their dna

Question 4

Two problems with the biological approach

Answer 4

• deterministic
• just because an individual has a particular combination of a candidate gene doesn’t mean that the individual is pre destined to develop ocd
• but this genetic vulnerability must be paired with an environmental stressors to result in ocd
• too many candidate genes. With over 239 candidate genes each individually coding for an increased risk of ocd , then this poses a practical issue in that it is difficult to assess which candidate genes have the greatest influence and so which ones should be targeted for drug treatment

Question 5

Explain what Cromer found

Answer 5

• of his OCD patients , over half had experienced a trauma in their lives
• positive correlation between an increasing number of traumas and the severity of ocd
• environmental factors play a role too

Question 6

Diathesis stress model

Answer 6

Ocd can be explained through a combination of candidate genes and environmental factors

Question 7

What does the biological approach use to treat ocd

Answer 7

Drugs

• SSRIs prevent the breaking down on serotonin - low levels of serotonin can cause OCD
• tricyclics are used for those who don’t respond well to SSRIs .
• these are examples of anti depressants
• BZs are a range of anti anxiety drugs that are used

Question 8

Two problems with drug therapy

Answer 8

• side effects

- doesn’t cue it, just reduces symptoms