lecture 6: anxiety disorders OCD

Question 1

Criteria for OCD

Answer 1

obsessions:
- Recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges or images that are intrusive, unwanted etc
- individual attempts to ignore or suppress thoughts etc to neutralise them
compulsions:
- repetitive behaviours
- behaviours or mental acts aimed at preventing or reducing anxiety

Question 2

features of OCD

Answer 2

• Lifetime prevalence is lower than other anxiety disorders (2.3%)
• 90% experience obsessions and compulsions (overt behaviour)
• 98% when mental acts are considered
• Similar prevalence in women and men
• Higher prevalence in divorced and unemployed people
• Begins in late adolescence/young childhood
• Has high comorbidity with other disorders - 25-50% experience MDD at some time

Question 3

Behavioural causal factors

Answer 3

Mowers two factor theory: explains origin and maintenance of OCD vai classical and operant condition

Question 4

exposure with response prevention

Answer 4

Exposure to stimuli that provokes obsessions but would invite them to not engage in any of their usual compulsions in the hopes to prevent them in future occasions

Question 5

Cognitive perspective

Answer 5

tries to address why we have obsessions in the first place and that those with OCD can’t brush off intrusive thoughts and take responsibility for them. Also links to stress diathesis model (responsibility schemas etc)

Question 6

cog vulnerability (responsibility schema)

Answer 6

• Growing up with rigid rules of conduct
• Being shielded from responsibility – overprotective parenting
• Being raised with a sense of responsibility for avoiding harm
• Increased responsibility for family members protection
• Incidents in which one actually does cause harm or erroneously believes that he or she did

Question 7

misinterpretation of responsibility

Answer 7

failure to prevent self or other harm, responsibility never decreased by other factors, people must and can control own thoughts

Question 8

overestimation of threat

Answer 8

lack of self-serving positivity attribution bias (do not have unrealistic optimistic that non anxious people have)

Question 9

thought control

Answer 9

higher in OCD patients but increases OCD symptoms

Question 10

CBT

Answer 10

focus on identification of key ditorted beleifs - Collaborative construction of a nonthreatening alternative account of obsessional fears
also complete logical re analysis