biological approach to OCD

Question 1

characteristics of ocd

Answer 1

obsessions and disorders need to occupy a lot of time erg an hour a day and must interfere with the person’s ability to function.

emotional : thoughts cause anxiety and or stress.
behavioural symptoms: repetitive behaviours egg handwashing, repetitive mental acts e.g counting,repating words silently
cognitive symptoms: reccurnt and persistent unwanted thoughts, urges or images,
-thoughts/behaviours recognised to be disproportionate
-person tries to suppress or neutralise the thoughts urges or images.
-these receptive behaviours or acts designed to reduce anxiety/distress and might be designed to prevent some dreadful event.

Question 2

biological explanation of ocd

Answer 2

biological aproach assumes that abnormal behaviours result from physical problems and should be treated medically.
-key biological factors gene, chemicals and the brain.

strengths = scientific and objective however by seeing body as a machine its criticised for ignoring social and cognitive factors.

Question 3

genetic explanation

Answer 3

-suggests ocd is inherited from parents.
one way of testing this is to comapare monozygotic(Mz identical) with dizygotic twins (DZ)
-MZ twins share 100% of gene whereas DZ share 50%
-bcs mz+dz brought up in the same enviornment it means any differences due to genetics and not upbringing or environment.
-Miguel found concordance rate for MZ twins to be twice as high as for DZ twins.

-gene mapping research identified two genes that seem to be linked to ocd (HTT reduction is serotonin and COMT over production of dopamine)

Question 4

chemical explanation

Answer 4

abnormal levels of serotonin and dopamine

• low S or high D which could increase anxiety.
• drugs that decrease dopamine or increase sermonise have been shown to reduce ocd symptoms.

Question 5

the brain-caudate nucleus

Answer 5

• areas in the frontal lobe thought to be abnormal with OCD sufferers. -Caudate nucleus receives worry signals from the orbital frontal cortex (OFB) and normally moderates them before they are sent to the nervous system via the thalamus
• however if caudate nucleus is damaged signals go straight to the neoursus system and lead to ocd.

Question 6

evaluation of bio explanation:

Answer 6

genes

• strenth: twin studies control for the environment and so provide scientific evidence.
  weakness: concordance rates are below 100% so which suggests that genes aren’t the only factors and so environmental factors are important too. this lends support to the diathesis stress model where genes provide a genetic predisposition to mental disorders but environments factors are needed to trigger them off.

chemical
strength: drugs work which suggests chemical explanation must be correct.
weakness :don’t establish a cause and effect .
- concordance rates are correlations and therefore we don’t know where abnormal chemical levels cause or are caused by OCD._
-low dopamine associated with depression high serotonin associated with schizophrenia. suggests that these neurotransmitter might cause mental disorders in general rather than specifically causing OCD.

brain
-strenths: importance OFC shown by PET scans . Comer exposed OCD patients to a stressor and found increased activity in the OFC

weakness- dopamine and serotonin linked to frontal cortex and it could be that they rather than the brain itself are responsible for damaging caudate nucleus. In that case the brain would be a consequence of chemical explanation, rather than the explanation itself.

Question 7

biological treatment of OCD

Answer 7

• treatments need to be biological and disorder is biological = drug therapy.
• druggs attempt to address effects of chemical imbalanes.
• ocd associated with low serotonin, most usual drug increase serotonin levels . antidepressants
• SSRIs ( selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)
• enable the body to create more serotonin by inhibiting the reiptake. SSRIS are more widely prescribed ant depressants with brand names like prozac,zoloft.

saris work at a the synapse where neurotransmitters diffuse from one cell to the next, normally serotonin is realised but ay the same time some is take back (reuptake)

BZs bezodiazepiens
-stimulates the production of GABA in the brain.
-gaba is the body natural defence against agitation and tis a neurotanmittor that slows down central nervous system,
-taking bz makes the body more relaxed and less anxious
- means patient doesn’t need to have obsessive thought or compulsive behaviour that they have been using to reduce anxiety .
sp SSRI block the reuptake and so increase the total volume of serotonin.

Question 8

evaluation

Answer 8

strength: its effective - evidence to show drugs work- soomro reviewed 17 studies and found saris more effective than placebos.
- preffered to cbt cheaper and do not require high level of commitment from patient,

weakness- sideeffcts, sari include drowsiness, dry mouth and nausea. sari increase suicide risk according to Ferguson.
dependancy - risk of addiction so treatment becomes a new problem. withdrawal symptoms when the come off it.
-if the cause is psychological ur treating the symptoms not the cause therefore when the course of drugs is over ocd will return
-publication bias - role of pharmaceutical companies as they could control the research process, only publish work to support drug and suppress other evefince in order to make a profit