Biological Treatment for OCD

Question 1

see labeled diagram of how neurotransmitters work on showbie

Question 2

What does SSRI stand for

Answer 2

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors

Question 3

What does SSRI do

Answer 3

Work on increasing certain neurotransmitters in the brain by preventing the re-absorption of serotonin

By preventing the re-absorption of serotonin, SSRIs effectively increase the levels of serotonin in the synapse & thus continue to stimulate the post-synaptic neuron

Question 4

Who is SSRI given to

Answer 4

People with depression to help increase mood

Question 5

Biochemical factors of SSRI

Answer 5

• Insel (1991), SSRIs can reduce symptoms of OCD in 50-60% of cases
• Zohar et al. (1996) found that SSRIs can alleviate symptoms (anxiety) in 60% of patients with OCD

Question 6

When are drugs used

Answer 6

• Drugs are often used alongside cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)
• The drugs reduce the sufferers emotional symptoms, sa anxiety or depression
• This means that the patient can then engage more effectively w CBT
• Some sufferers may response best to CBT alone w/o the need for medication

Question 7

Alternative to SSRIs

Answer 7

Tricyclics - an older type of antidepressant that has same effect on serotonin as SSRIs

SNRIs - serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors. 2nd line of defence for patents who do not response well to SSRIs

NASSAs - noradrenaline & specific serotonergic antidepressants

Question 8

Evaluations (PROS)

Answer 8

Drug therapy is effective at tackling OCD symptoms - there is clear research to suggest that SSRIs are effective in reducing the severity of OCD symptoms (Soomro, 2009)

Drugs are cost-effective & non-disruptive - drug treatments are cheap in comparison to psychological treatments and, unlike psychotherapy, they are non-disruptive to patient’s lives

Question 9

Evaluations (CONS)

Answer 9

• Drugs can have side-effects
• Unreliable evidence for drug treatments
• Some cases of OCD follow trauma

Question 10

Evaluations (CONS): Drugs can have side-effects

Answer 10

• Although the use of drugs is effective for most, a significant minority receive no benefit and/or may suffer side-effects: weight gain, sexual dysfunction, loss of memory.
• Coming off a drug is a slow process in which the dosage has to be gradually reduced over a period of 6 months - risk of relapse

Question 11

Evaluations (CONS): Unreliable evidence for drug treatments

Answer 11

• If drug companies sponsor the research they may decide to suppress any results that do not support the drug they are marketing
• Currently, many drug companies do not publish all of their results & may indeed be supressing evidence. This suggests that the data on the effectiveness of drugs may not be trustworthy

Question 12

Evaluations (CONS): Some cases of OCD follow trauma

Answer 12

• Although OCD is widely believed to be biological in origin, it is also accepted that OCD can have different causes.
• There is a case for proposing that cases of OCD where there is no family history of OCD, but there is a relevant life event, should be treated differently from those where there is a family history & no trauma. It may be that for these cases drugs are not appropriate