Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Psychopathology) Flashcards
Obsession
A persistent thought, idea, impulse or image that is experienced repeatedly, feels intrusive and causes anxiety.
Compulsion
A repetitive and rigid behaviour or mental act that a person feels driven to perform in order to prevent or reduce anxiety.
Categories of OCD and what they all have in common
-Regular OCD: characterised by obsessions and/or compulsions
-Trichotillomania: compulsive hair pulling
-Hoarding Disorder: the compulsive gathering of possessions and the inability to part with anything regardless of its value
-Excoriation Disorder: compulsive skin picking
These are alike in their repetitive behaviour accompanied by obsessive thinking.
The DSM describes the main symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder as:
-recurrent obsessions and compulsions
-recognition by the individual that the obsessions and compulsions are excessive and/or unreasonable
-the person is distressed or impaired, and daily life is disrupted by the obsessions and compulsions
Emotional Characteristics of OCD
OCD may feel depressed and/or other negative emotions.
Guilt and disgust.
Behavioural characteristics of OCD
How actions which typically leads to the carrying out of repetitive actions to reduce anxiety. This leads to avoidance.
Cognitive characteristics of OCD
Sufferers are usually plagued with obsessive thoughts. They also tend to develop cognitive strategies.
Anxiety.
Biological Explanation for OCD
Genetics: genes can predispose individuals to the illness. It only suggests that this is part of the reason, as patients often have family members with the condition.
Billet et al 1998 and Bellodi et al 2001
claim that genetic factors play a role. Using evidence from twin studies and family studies, they showed that close relatives are more likely to have the disorder than more distant relatives
Mckeon and Murray 1987
patients with OCD are more likely to have first degree relatives who suffer from anxiety disorders
Lewis 1936 and Pauls et al 2005
there is a higher percentage of OCD sufferers in relatives of patients than in a control group.
Polygenetic
OCD is thought to be polygenic- meaning that development is not determined by a single gene, but rather 230 genes. This means that there is little predictive power from this explanation.
Candidate genes
Candidate genes are ones which, through research, have been implicated in the development of OCD
-a possible candidate gene is the SERT gene which is involved in regulating serotonin, a neurotransmitter which facilitates message transfer across synapses (5HT1-D beta).
-Another possible candidate gene is the COMT gene, which regulates the production of dopamine
-Dopamine affects motivation and drive, and so may motivate the repetitive behaviour. The opposite occurs in depression
The diathesis stress model
The diathesis-stress model suggests that people gain a vulnerability towards OCD through genes but an environmental stressor is also required. This could be a stressful event, for example a bereavement
Aetiologically heterogeneous
-the development of OCD has different causes
-different genetic variation or genes cause the disorder in different people