EXPLANATIONS OF OCD Flashcards
Explaining OCD
- The biological approach suggests that abnormal behaviour is caused by something physical happening in the body, which may be the result of genes.
Genetic explanations
- Genes may create a vulnerability (risk of developing) to OCD. There is evidence that OCD runs in families.
Lewis (1936)
found that 37% of patients with OCD had parents with the disorder.
what does the diathesis model suggest?
The diathesis-stress model suggests that, along with this vulnerability, the environment may trigger OCD.
candidate genes in ocd
there are many candidate genes involved in OCD (for example, those involved in the serotonin and dopamine systems), and it is polygenic: several genes are involved taylor et al - (perhaps up to 230).
aetiologically heterogenous
- OCD is aetiologically heterogeneous, meaning different combinations of genes cause different types of OCD in different people.
Supporting evidence from research support
- For example, Nestadt et al reviewed previous twin studies and found 68% of identical twins shared OCD compared to 31% of non-identical twins.
- Similarly, Ozaki et al found a mutation of OCD gene in two unrelated families
where 6/7 family members had OCD. - This shows that there is a genetic component responsible for the development of OCD.
- This is an advantage as it increases the validity of the theory.
- However, a problem with twin studies is that they share the same environment as well as same DNA- this means we can’t differentiate between nature and nurture.
- Therefore, it’s difficult to tell the true cause of OCD
What did Ozaki et al find
- found a mutation of OCD gene in two unrelated families
- where 6/7 family members had OCD.
One limitation of biological explanations is that too many candidate genes have been identified.
- Taylor (2013) identified up to 230 suggesting OCD is polygenic (meaning more than one gene set is involved).
- Furthermore, OCD is aetiologicallyheterogeneous meaning different types of OCD may be linked to different genetic variations. and each variation only increases the risk by a fraction.
- This is a disadvantage as we cannot be certain which gene causes OCD and therefore hard to predict, prevent and treat
Neural exp
neurotransmitters are responsible for relaying info from one neuron to another
low levels of serotonin lowers mood
- e.g if pp have low levels of sero then normal transmissionof mood-relevant info doesnt take place and mood is affected
neural exp suggest that decision making in frontal lobe is impaired
- in some ocd cases in particular hoarding disorder seems to be assosiated with impaired frontal lobe
- means abnoral functioning of the lateral frontal lobes of the brain
- the frontal lobe is resposible for making decisions
explain parahippocampal gyrus dysfunction
- this is associated with processing unpleaseant emotions, functions abnormally OCD
One strength of biological explanations of OCD is that there is real life application.
- For example, the biological explanation suggests that OCD is caused by faulty brain chemistry.
- This has led to the development of SSRIs which work on the levels of serotonin in the synapse
- This increases serotonin in the brain and tries to reduce the amount of reuptake that occurs in the synapse.
- This is an advantage as it helps reduce the symptoms of OCD, and increase the quality of life of patinets.
- Yet, these SSRI’s only mask symptoms and do not tackle the root cause
one limitation is of the neural model is that theres no unique system
- co-morbility many people with OCD also experience depression. this depression probably involves distruption with serotonin
- simply be bc sertonin activity causes distruption in many people with OCD bc theyre depressed
- serotonin may not be relevant to OCD symptoms
