OCD Flashcards
What is drug therapy
something i want, and need :D
- the most commonly used biological therapy for anxiety disorders is drug therapy
- this therapy assumes that there is a chemical imbalance in the brain
- this can be corrected by drugs (gasppp addictttt) which either increase or decrease the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain
What is SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)
- the standard medical treatment used to tackle the symptoms of OCS are SSRIs
- SSRIs work on increasing certain neurotransmitter in the brain by preventing the re-absorption of serotonin
- by preventing the re-absorption of serotonin, SSRIs effectively increase its levels in the synpase and thus continue to stimulate the post-synaptic neuron
sorry.. what now
What did Insel find in 1991
That SSRIs can reduce symptoms of OCD in 50-60% of cases
What did Zohar et al find in 1996
That SSRIs can alleviate symptoms in 60% of patients with OCD
What other treatments are SSRIs usually paired with
- Drugs are often used alongside cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)
- The drugs reduce the sufferer’s emotional symptoms, such as anxiety or depression
- This means that the patient can then engage more effectively with CBT
- Some suffered may respond best to CBT alone without the need for medication
How can SSRIs become more effective
- Where an SSRI is not effective after three to four months the dose can be increased or it can be combined with other drugs
- Patients respond differently drugs and sometimes alternatives work well for some people and not at all for others
What are some alternatives to SSRIs
- Tricyclics - this is an older type of antidepressant that has the same effect on serotonin as SSRIs (clomipramine)
- SNRIs - serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors, second line of defence for patients who do not respond well to SSRIs
- NASSAs - noradrenaline and specific serotonergic antidepressants
Give some positive evaluation for drug therapy
Drug therapy is effective at tackling OCD symptoms:
There is clear research to suggest that SSRIs are effective in reducing the severity of OCD symptoms
Give some more positive evaluations for drug therapy
Drugs are cost-effective and non-disruptive:
drug treatments are cheap in comparison to psychological treatments and unlike psychotherapy, they are non-disruptive to patients lives
Give some negative evaluation for drug therapy
Drugs can have side effects: although the use of drugs is effective for most, a significant minority receive no benefit and/or may suffer side-effects: weight gain, dry mouth, sexual dysfunction and a loss of memory. Coming off a drug is a slow process in which the dosage has to be gradually reduced over a period of six months - risk of relapse
Give two more negative evaluations of drug therapy
- Unreliable evidence for drug treatments: if drug companies sponsor the research, they may decide to suppress any results that do not support the drug they are marketing (currently many drug companies do not publish all of their results and may indeed be depressing evidence which suggests the data on the effectiveness of drugs may not be trustworthy)
- Some cases of OCD follow trauma: although OCD is widely believed to be biological in origin, it is also accepted that OCD can have different causes
What is trichotillomania
Compulsive hair pulling
What is OCD in terms of its categories
Characterised by obsessions and or compulsions
What is the hoarding disorder
The compulsive gathering of possessions and the inability to part with anything regardless of its value
What is the excoriation disorder
Compulsive skin picking
What does the DSM describe as the main symptoms of OCD to be
- recurrent obsessions and compulsions
- recognition by the individual that the obsessions and compulsions are excessive and/or unreasonable
- that the person is distressed or impaired and daily life is disrupted by the obsessions and compulsions
What are the behavioural, emotional and cognitive symptoms of OCD
Behavioural: how a person acts which typically leads to the carrying out of repetitive actions to reduce anxiety. This often leads to avoidance of situations that trigger anxiety
Emotional: OCD may feel depressed and/or other negative emotions; guilt and disgust
Cognitive: OCD sufferers are usually plagued with obsessive thoughts, they also tend to develop cognitive strategies and anxiety
What is the OCD cycle
Obsessive thought –> anxiety –> compulsive behaviour –> temporary relief
and then the cycle starts again (like my cycle of wanting to cry :D)
What are the biological assumptions for OCD
- OCD has been explained in a number of ways but the biological approach offers particularly useful suggestions as to how it is caused
- It has been proposed that there is a genetic component to OCD which predisposes some individuals to the illness
- The genetic explanation suggests that whether a person develops OCD is at least party due to their genes; this may explain why patients often have other family members with OCD
What did Billet et al and Bellodi et al say about genetics and OCD
They claim that genetic factors play a role in the disorder. Using evidence from twin studies and family studies they showed that close relatives are more likely to have the disorder than more distant relatives
What did Mckeon and Murray say about genetics and OCD
Patients with OCD are more likely to have first degree relatives who suffer from anxiety disorders
What did Lewis and Pails et al say about genetics and OCD
There is a higher percentage of OCD sufferers in relatives of patients with OCD than in the control group without OCD
What are some genetic explanations for OCD
think of bert and gert, brother and sister with ocd
- 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
- Another possible candidate gene is the COMT gene - this regulates the production of dopamine
- Dopamine effects motivation and drive
What is the diathesis-stress model
It 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
