biological approach to treating OCD

Question 1

what are the treatments ?

Answer 1

Drug Therapy:
1. SSRIs
2. combining SSRIs with other treatments
3. alternative treatments

Question 2

what is drug therapy?

Answer 2

• therapy assumes theres a chemical imbalance in brain which is corrected by drugs either increase/decrease levels of neurotransmitters in brain.
• low levels of serotonin associated with OCD so drugs increase level of serotonin

Question 3

how does SSRIs work?

Answer 3

• serotonin gets reabsorbed through pre-synaptic neurons
• SSRIs increases neurotransmitter levels by preventing reuptake of serotnin. SSRIs increase levels in synapse therefore increasing mood
• therefore reducing OCD symptoms

Question 4

when are SSRIs used and what are the side effects?

Answer 4

• treating serve cases of depression in tablet form for at least 6 months
• side effects include nausea, headache, dry mouth

Question 5

how does combining SSRIs with other treatment work?

Answer 5

CBT!
- drugs used alongside CBT as drug reduce patients emotional symptoms so can engage more in CBT.
- CBT helps change compulsions and disordered thinking

Question 6

how does alternative treatments work?

Answer 6

-Tricyclics: act on serotonin and norephrine. has same effect on serotnin system as SSRIs for people who dont respond to SSRIs
-SNRI: act on serotonin and nirepinephrine. increases levels as sertonin as well as noradrenaline, for patients who dont respond to SSRIs

Question 7

what are the evaluation points?

Answer 7

S: effective at tackling OCD symptoms
S: cost effective and non-disruptive
L: side effects
L: unreliable evidence for drug treatment

Question 8

how is the approach effective at tackling OCD symptoms?

Answer 8

• Soomro
• compared SSRIs to placebo in treatment of OCD and there was better outcomes for SSRIs than placebo
• counter-> drug treatments may not be effective
• Skapinakis - cog + behav therapies more effective
• drugs not optimum treatment for OCD

Question 9

how is biological treatments cost-effective?

Answer 9

• cheap compared to psychological treaments
• many thousands tablets can be manufactured in time takes to conduct one session of psych therapy
• good value for public health systems like NHS

Question 10

what side effects are there for the biological treatment?

Answer 10

• some experience indegestion, blurred vison, loss of sex drive
• usually temporary but quite distressing
• some have reduced qual of life= stop taking all together
• cease to be effective

Question 11

what unreliable evidence is there?

Answer 11

• evidence favouring drug treatments is biased bc researchers are sponsored by drug companies and may selectively publish positive outcomes
• counter- lack of indepdent studies of drug effectiveness + research into psych treatment bias
• best evidence available is supportive of usefullness of drug for OCD