BIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO EXPLAINING OCD Flashcards
how many explanations are there for OCD in the biological approach?
2
what are the two explanations for OCD?
genetic
neural
what are candidate genes in OCD?
a gene of interest when looking a particular behaviours/characteristics that could be inherited
what are family studies?
family studies are when you look at similarities within families for example if one relative has OCD what at the chances of others
what are chromosomes?
23 pairs of chromosomes, 46 in total
what are genes?
information about a part of you
what is DNA?
a chemical structure
what are concordance rates?
the rate of similarity e.g. in twin studies
what are two candidate genes that can lead to the inheritance of OCD?
COMT
SERT
what does the COMT gene regulate?
levels of dopamine
in OCD, are the levels of dopamine increased or decreased?
they are increased
who supports that the COMT gene can lead to higher levels of dopamine?
Tukel who says that a variation/mutation in the COMT gene can lower activity and increase levels of dopamine
what does the SERT gene regulate?
the levels of serotonin
are levels of seratonin increase or decreased on OCD?
decreased
who has research to support the SERT gene leading to the inheritance of OCD?
Ozaki found that a mutation of SERT gene in unrelated families with 6/7 members with OCD had lower levels of seratonin
OCD is…
polygenic
what does polygenic mean?
means many genes
who found that there may be over 230 genes involved in the inheritance of OCD?
Taylor
what are neural explanations for OCD?
serotonin
decision making system
how does the neural explanation describe serotonin?
low levels of serotonin lower mood
what are the neurotransmitters responsible for?
responsible for relaying information from one neuron to another
what occurs if there are lower levels of serotonin than normal?
no transmission of mood relevant information
what is impaired in the frontal lobes?
decision making systems
what are the frontal lobes responsible for?
logical thinking and decision making
what part of the brain is dysfunctional in OCD according to the neural explanation?
the paragippocampal gyrus
what is the parahippocampal gyrus responsible for?
processing unpleasant emotions
