OCD Flashcards
(22 cards)
What is OCD
The involvement of repetitive behaviours, a desire for cleanliness and neatness, as well as obsessive thinking
DSM 5 categories for OCD
OCD
Tricholomania
Hoarding disorder
Excoriation disorder
What are obsessions
-Reoccurring and persistent thoughts
-Not based in reality
What are compulsions
-Repetitive behaviours
-Physical urge to perform acts to reduce anxiety
% of compulsions Vs obsessions
70% both
20% only obsessions
10% only compulsions
Behavioural characteristics
-Obsessive compulsions
-Avoidance of stressors
Emotional characteristics
-depression
-anxiety caused by obsessions
- guilt and disgust
Cognitive characteristics
- cognitive strategies to deal with their obsessions eg praying a lot if your religious to prevent feelings immoral
-obsessive thoughts
-excessive anxiety
OCD cycle
Obsessive thoughts - anxiety - compulsive behaviours - temporary relief
Genetic explenations for OCD
-Candidate genes = specific genes inherited from parents that lead to an increased vulnerability usually specific to the transmission of serotonin and dopamine (5HTI-D)
-Polygenic (multiple genes are involved in OCD (Taylor estimate 230)
-Different types of OCD, the group of genes that leads to OCD development varies person to person
Neural explenations for OCD
-Low serotonin levels leads to lower mood
-imparemnet of the frontal lobe (decision making) is relavent to the behavioral and cognitive characeristics of OCD
-abnormal functioning of the parahippocampul gyrus (processing unpleasant emltions) has been linked to OCD
genetic explanations of OCD research support
Nestadt
-68% mz have OCD
-31% dz have OCD
high concordance rate = genetic
genetic explenations of OCD twin studies
Shared environments assumption
neural explenations for OCD research support
-The use of SSRI’s to increase levels of serotonin has been proven to help lessen the effects of OCD and other degenerate diseases like parkinsons
-Low sereronin leads to OCD
neural explenations for OCD causation issues
-Low serotonin is comorbid with depression
-Difficult to determine whether low serotonin is what causes OCD
SSRI’s stand for
selective serotonin reuptake inhinitors
What do SSRI’s do
-In a ‘normal ‘ brain some of the serotonin is reabsorbed rather than travelling across the synapses from the pre-synaptic neuron to the post synaptic neuron
-In an ‘abnormal’ brain like OCD, less serotonin is produced so, there is less mood related information being taken to where it is supposed to be
SSRI’s prevent reuptake of serotonin so that all of the serotonin released goes to the brain
Alternative medication
Benzodiazepines - type of anti anxiety drug which enhances the GABA neurotransmitter
This slows down the rate of firing in the brain, reducing the anxiety caused by obsessive thoughts
Treatments quick and cheap
-Quick, easy and cheap
-Requires little effort from either party whilst still being effective. -Cheaper than NHS psychological therapies which require time and training
Treatment side effects
-Drugs may have a long term affect
-Most studies are only 3-4 months in duration therefore its difficult to say if the drugs are effective long term
-Possible side effects include weight gain, indigestion, blurred vision
Treatment research support
-Meta-analysis of different studies for the effectiveness of SSRI
-17 of the studies had the SSRI more effective than placebo
Doesn’t require motivation
Unlike talking therapy, it allows more people to get on with daily life
More generalizable
