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Psychology: Psychopathology > OCD > Flashcards

OCD Flashcards

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1
Q

What is OCD?

A

An anxiety disorder where sufferers experience persistent and intrusive thoughts occurring as obsession, compulsions or a combination of the two

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2
Q

What are obsessions?

A

A comprise of forbidden or inappropriate ideas and visual images that aren’t based on reality

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3
Q

What are compulsions?

A

A comprise of intense, uncontrollable urges to repetitively perform tasks and behaviors

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4
Q

What is the OCD cycle?

A

Obsession –> anxiety –> compulsions –> Relief

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5
Q

What does DSM-IV say about OCD?

A
  • Recurrent obsessions and compulsions
  • Recognition by the individual that the obsessions and compulsions are excessive and/or unreasonable
  • That the persons is distressed or impaired, and daily life is disrupted by the obsessions and compulsions
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6
Q

What are the emotional characteristics of OCD?

A
  • Anxiety
  • Distress
  • Depression
  • Guilt and disgust
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7
Q

What are the behavioral characteristics of OCD?

A
  • Compulsive behaviors to manage anxieties
  • Avoid situations which may act as a trigger
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8
Q

What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?

A
  • Obsessive thoughts that occur over and over again
  • Persistent intrusive and uncontrollable thoughts
  • Insight into excessive thoughts (awareness that they are not rational)
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9
Q

What does OCD stand for?

A

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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10
Q

What is Dopamine?

A

A key neurotransmitter in the brain, which effects on motivation and drive.

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11
Q

What is Serotonin?

A

Another neurotransmitter, which is believed to have an effect on mood regulation

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12
Q

What are the most common compulsion in OCD?

A
  • Cleaning
  • Washing
  • Checking
  • Counting
  • Touching
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13
Q

What are the 2 biological explanations for OCD?

A
  • Genetic
  • Neural
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14
Q

What is the Genetic explanation to OCD?

A
  • That OCD is inherited from your parents through your genes
  • That if you inherit certain genes, you might be more likely to have OCD
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15
Q

What is the Neural explanation to OCD?

A
  • That certain neurotransmitters and structures of the brain are concerned with OCD
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16
Q

Explain the Diathesis-stress model?

A
  • Genes may create a vulnerability to OCD
  • The diathesis-stress model suggests that, along with this vulnerability, the environment may trigger OCD
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17
Q

What suggests that OCD is polygenic?

A
  • A number of candidate genes have been implicated as a possible cause for OCD
  • Taylor (2013) identified up to 230 suggesting OCD is Polygenic
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18
Q

What is the COMT Gene and Explain it

A
  • A gene associated with the production of an enzyme that regulates the function of dopamine and helps to reduce its action
  • The variation in the COMT gene decreases the amount of COMT available and therefore dopamine is not controlled and there is probably too much dopamine (which is associated with OCD)
  • This gene variation is more common in patients with OCD, in comparison to people without OCD.
  • It appears that this gene is also mutated in individuals with OCD
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19
Q

What is the SERT Gene and Explain it

A
  • A gene that affects the transport of serotonin, creating lower levels of it and low levels of serotonin have been implicated with OCD
  • The SERT gene appears to be mutated in individuals with OCD, the mutation causes an increase in transporter proteins at a neuron’s membrane
  • This leads to an increase in the reuptake of serotonin into the neuron which decreases the level of serotonin in the synapse
  • If you don’t have much serotonin floating around in your brain, you might feel depressed or anxious, which could lead to OCD
20
Q

What are the 2 case studies which support the genetic explanation of OCD?

A
  • Ozaki et al (2003)
  • Nestadt et al (2000)
21
Q

Summarise Ozaki et al (2003)

A
  • Mutation of the SERT gene was found in two unrelated families where 6/7 family members had OCD
  • This suggests a vulnerability to OCD
22
Q

Summarise Nestadt et al (2000)

A
  • 80 patients with OCD and 343 of their near relatives compared with control group without mental illness and their relatives
  • Strong link with near family, 5x greater risk if had first degree relative
23
Q

Evaluation to agree with the genetic explanation of OCD:

A
  • Drugs that increases serotonin such as anti-depressants have been shown to reduce OCD symptoms
  • Studies using drugs have shown a reduction in dopamine levels is positively correlated with a reduction in OCD symptoms
  • Experiments which inject animals with drugs that increased levels of dopamine have caused the animal to demonstrate OCD type behaviors
24
Q

Evaluation to disagree with the genetic explanation of OCD:

A
  • Genes alone do not determine who will develop OCD - they only create vulnerability. Thus, they are not a direct cause as other factors must trigger the disorder. Cannot account for OCD in families where there is no previous history
  • Evidence for this is that the concordance rates are not 100%, which shows that OCD is due to an interaction of genetic and other factors
  • The OCD may be culturally rather genetically transmitted as the family members may observe and imitate each other’s behavior, as predicted by social learning theory
25
Q

What are the 2 Neural explanations for OCD?

A
  • Abnormal functioning of the frontal lobes
  • An overactive OFC
25
Q

What are the 2 Neural explanations for OCD?

A
  • Abnormal functioning of the frontal lobes
  • An overactive OFC
26
Q

Explain the abnormal functioning of the frontal lobes

A
  • The lateral bits of the frontal loves are the part of your brain responsible for decision making and logical reasoning
  • Abnormal functioning or damage of this region is linked to OCD.
  • Some cases of OCD, in particular hoarding disorder, are associated with impaired decision making
27
Q

Explain an overactive OFC

A
  • An overactive OFC might cause an exaggerated control of primal impulses.
  • Dopamine and serotonin are linked to these areas in the frontal lobe
28
Q

Give an example of an overactive OFC

A
  • Due to primal instincts to survive, you want to avoid germs
  • You make the decision to wash your hand to remove any harmful germs you may have encountered
  • Once you have performed the appropriate behaviour, the OFC reduces activation and you stop washing your hands and go about your day
  • It has been suggested that if you have OCD, your OFC is over activated
  • This means the obsessions and compulsions continue, leading you to wash your hands again and again
29
Q

Explain the OFC circuit?

A
  • The OFC sends ‘worry’ signals
  • These signals are normally suppressed by the caudate nucleus
  • In OCD the caudate nucleus is thought to be damaged so it cannot suppress the signals which become increasingly excited - increasing compulsive behaviour and anxiety (maybe dopamine pathway and levels are also implicated)
30
Q

What can reduce symptoms of severe OCD?

A

Surgery which disconnects the basal ganglia from the frontal cortex can reduce symptoms

31
Q

How are neurotransmitters related to OCD?

A
  • Abnormalities, or and imbalance in the neurotransmitter serotonin, could also be related to OCD
  • Reduced Serotonin and excessive dopamine may cause OCD
32
Q

Explain how neurotransmitters are related to OCD in terms of Serotonin

A
  • Serotonin is the chemical thought to be involved in regulating mood.
  • OCD patients have low levels of serotonin, for example serotonin may be removed too quickly from the synapse before impulses have been passed on.
  • If you don’t have much serotonin floating around in your brain, you might feel depressed or anxious, which is linked to obsessive thoughts
33
Q

Explain how neurotransmitters are related to OCD in terms of Dopamine?

A
  • Dopamine is abnormally high in individuals with OCD.
  • High levels of dopamine have been thought to influence concentration
  • This may explain why OCD individuals experience an inability to stop focussing on obsessive thoughts and repetitive behaviours
  • High levels of dopamine is also linked to compulsive behaviour/stereotypical movements
34
Q

Name 2 evidence of research which support the Neural explanation?

A
  • Szechtman et al (1998)
  • Pigott et al (1992)
35
Q

Summarise Szechtman et al (1998)

A
  • High dose of drugs that enhance dopamine induce movements resembling compulsive behaviours found in OCD patients (animal studies)
36
Q

Summarise Pigott et al (1992)

A
  • Antidepressant drugs that increase serotonin activity have been seen to reduce OCD Symptoms
37
Q

Evaluation that agrees with the neural explanations for OCD?

A
  • The brains of OCD patients are structured and function differently from those of other people. Brains scans of OCD patients reliably show increased activity in the OFC
  • Surgery which disconnects the basal ganglia from the frontal cortex can reduce symptoms of severe OCD
38
Q

Evaluation that disagrees with the neural explanations for OCD?

A
  • Whether low serotonin causes OCD is unknown. All that’s known is that low serotonin and OCD are related. It is difficult to establish whether the low levels of neurotransmitters cause OCD, are an effect of having the disorder, or are merely associated
  • Causation cannot be inferred as only associations have been identified
39
Q

Strengths of the biological explanation of OCD

A
  • Strengths of this approach include its testability via neuroscience research, evidence for genetic and neurotransmitter involvement
  • Anti-depressant typically work by increasing levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. These drugs are effective in reducing the symptoms of OCD and provide support for a neural explanation of OCD
40
Q

Weaknesses of the biological explanation of OCD

A
  • The biological explanations are also deterministic because they ignore the individual’s ability to control their own behaviour, which in turn may affect their biochemistry levels.
  • The approach can also be criticised for ignoring environmental influences. For example, people are not born with OCD they might learn it from their environment through the process of classical and operant conditioning.
  • The findings from neural explanations are problematic as drugs used to affect serotonin such as SSRIs may decrease the symptom but that does not mean that an imbalance of serotonin was he cause in the first place.
  • Improvement rates from use of drugs are only at 50% so there must be other causes.
41
Q

What are SSRIs?

A
  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) act on the serotonin system by preventing the reuptake and breaking down of serotonin by the presynaptic neuron.
  • Thus, the concentration of serotonin within the synapse increases, causing the post-synaptic neuron to be continually stimulated.
42
Q

Treatment of OCD

A

Drug Therapy (SSRIs)

43
Q

Limitation of drug therapy

A
  • A limitation of drug therapy are the serious Side effects. For example, for those taking Clomipramine, more than one in 10 suffer from erection problems, weight gain
    and tremors.
  • More than 1 in 100 suffer from increased heart rate and aggressiveness. These side effects can have serious implications on how the patient can go about their everyday lives.
  • Could be addictive

-

44
Q

Pros of drug therapy

A
  • Research support
  • Little effort
  • Cheaper for NHS

Psychology: Psychopathology (3 decks)

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