Biological treatments for OCD

Question 1

drug therapy

Answer 1

• anti-depressants = SSRI’s
• anti-anxiety = BZ

Question 2

SSRI’s

Answer 2

• anti-depressants
• Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors
• e.g. Prozac
• low levels of serotonin are associated w/ OCD + depression
• SSRI drugs aim to prevent the reuptake of serotonin
  = prolong its activity in the synapse
  = person feels less anxious
• high levels of serotonin, provided by the SSRI dugs
  = help the orbital frontal cortex to function at normal levels
  = help suppress worry signals

Question 3

ads of SSRI’s

Answer 3

• cost effective
• evidence support

Question 4

disads of SSRI’s

Answer 4

• side effects
• alternatives

Question 5

cost effective - ads of SSRI’s

Answer 5

• SSRI dugs are relatively cheap + cost effective
• in comparison to psychological therapies
• e.g. CBT, counselling or family therapy
• using SSRI drugs to treat OCD is good value for money for the NHS
  = economical compared to other treatments

Question 6

evidence support - ads of SSRI’s

Answer 6

• there’s supporting evidence that SSRI’s are an effective treatment for OCD
• psych reviewed 17 studies that compared SSRI’s to placebo drugs for treating OCD
  = found that all 17 studies showed that SSRI drugs were more effective than placebos
• especially when SSRI’s were combined with CBT

Question 7

side effects - disads of SSRI’s

Answer 7

• they have terrible side effects which might mean that the OCD patient might stop taking the medication
• Side effects are temporary but include indigestion, blurred vision and loss of sex drive

Question 8

alternatives - disads of SSRI’s

Answer 8

• SSRI’s can be criticised because they do not work for all OCD patients
• For some patients SSRI drugs will not alleviate their OCD symptoms + they will have to take an alternative drug
• such as tricyclics instead which might be more effective for them

Question 9

BZ

Answer 9

• BZ drugs reduce anxiety
• e.g. Valium + Xanax
• reduce the activity in the central nervous system
• reduce brain arousal
• reduce serotonin levels in the brain
• aim to reduce BP + HR
• aim to increase GABA
  = neurotransmitter in the brain
  = slows down the firing of neurons
  = makes the person less anxious + calmer

Question 10

ads of BZ

Answer 10

• effective
• quick

Question 11

disads of BZ

Answer 11

• ST vs LT
• dependance

Question 12

effective - ads of BZ

Answer 12

• BZ drugs are very effective at reducing anxiety + OCD symptoms
• used by millions of people worldwide
  = so they are very good at reducing anxiety + OCD on a global basis

Question 13

quick - ads of BZ

Answer 13

• BZ drugs work very quickly + effectively to cure OCD symptoms
• compared to other psychological treatments
• e.g. CBT
• BZ drugs can begin to reduce anxiety levels + OCD symptoms in a short period of time
  = so that the patient will see some immediate benefits of relief

Question 14

ST vs LT - disads of BZ

Answer 14

• when used for short periods of time, BZ drugs will produce hardly any real side effects
• unlike other types of drugs
• HOWEVER, if they’re used for LT
  = several unwanted side effects begin to appear
• e.g. depression, drowsiness, unpredictable interactions w/ alcohol etc..
• patients have a high chance of being involved in accidence
  = BZ shouldn’t be used as a LT treatment for OCD

Question 15

dependance - disads of BZ

Answer 15

• psych found that long term users of BZ became very dependant on the drug
• sudden withdrawal of drug leads to return high levels of anxiety + OCD symptoms
• also problem of tolerance or drug escalation
  = patients need to take very large doses of the drug to reduce OCD symptoms, if using for a long time