OCD

Question 1

What are the main behavioural characteristics of OCD?

Answer 1

• Compulsions- repetitive behaviours that reduce anxiety

- Avoidance of situations in which a person’s OCD may be triggered

Question 2

What are the main emotional characteristics of OCD?

Answer 2

• Anxiety and distress
• Depression
• Guilt
• Disgust

Question 3

What are the main cognitive characteristics of OCD?

Answer 3

• Obsessive thoughts
• Use of cognitive strategies to deal with obsessive thoughts
• Sufferers are aware that their thoughts are irrational

Question 4

What are the genetic explanations of OCD?

Answer 4

• Candidate genes- some specific genes such as 5HT1-D beta have been identifies to cause a vulnerability to OCD
• OCD is polygenic, Taylor (2013) found that up to 230 different genes could be involved in OCD
• Genes may influence OCD differently in different people

Question 5

What are the neural explanations of OCD?

Answer 5

• Serotonin deficiencies can cause OCD as they can result in mood relevant information not being transmitted properly
• Some cases of OCD seem to be linked to impaired decision making abilities which can be related to faulty lateral frontal lobes
• There is also evidence to suggest that the parahippocampal gyrus can cause OCD if it functions abnormally

Question 6

What are the benefits and limitations of the genetic explanations of OCD?

Answer 6

Benefits:
-Nestadt et al. discovered that 68% of MZ twins share OCD compared to 31% of DZ twins.
Limitations:
-Genetics only present a vulnerability to OCD
-Inability to find all candidate genes means this explanation is not very useful (little predictive value)

Question 7

What are the benefits and limitations of the neural explanations of OCD?

Answer 7

Benefits:
-Can be used in treatment
-SSRI’s have been proven effective in treating OCD
Limitations:
-No particular neural organ has been found to be consistently faulty in OCD
-OCD can cause serotonin deficiencies

Question 8

How do SSRI’s work?

Answer 8

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors™ block serotonin reuptake receptors in the terminal buttons of nerves, allowing more serotonin to cross synapses

Question 9

What are the benefits and limitations of drug therapies to treat OCD?

Answer 9

Benefits:
-Drug treatments are easy and cost-effective
-Soomro et al. (2009) showed that the use of SSRI’s was was more effective than a placebo drug in treating OCD
Limitations:
-They can have side effects
-It can take an extremely long time to find a drug that is effective for a particular patient
-OCD isn’t always biologically caused