OCD (Psychopathology)

Question 0

Biological Explanations: Genetic

Candidate genes
OCD is polygenic
Different types of OCD

Answer 0

Candidate genes - Genes that may be involved in producing symptoms of OCD, e.g 5HT1-D beta

OCD is polygenic - Different combinations of up to 230 genetic variations

Different types of OCD - Different combinations of gene variations may cause different kinds of OCD

Question 1

Characteristics

Behavioural
Emotional
Cognitive

Answer 1

Behavioural - Compulsions usually decrease anxiety. People avoid situations that trigger anxiety

Emotional - Intense anxiety, depression, guilt and disgust

Cognitive - Obsessive thoughts, cognitive strategies, e.g prayer

Question 2

Biological Explanations: Genetic

Evaluation

Answer 2

Good supporting evidence - Twin studies show OCD is influenced by genes (Nestadt et al)

Too many candidate genes - So many genes involved means little predictive value

Environmental risk factors - OCD is associated with trauma, so it is clearly not genetic in origin

Question 3

Biological Explanations: Neural

Serotonin

Decision Making Systems

Answer 3

Serotonin - Low levels of serotonin is linked to OCD

Decision making systems - Frontal lobes and parahippocampal gyrus may be malfunctioning

Question 4

Biological Explanations: Neural

Evaluation

Answer 4

Supporting evidence - Antidepressants that work on the serotonin system alleviate OCD (Nestadt et al)

Not clear what mechanisms are involved - All the neural systems associated with OCD are only involved in some cases

Shouldn’t assume neutral mechanisms case OCD - Neural abnormalities may be the result of OCD not the cause

Twin studies flawed as evidence

Question 5

Biological Treatment: Drug Therapy

SSRIs
Combining SSRIs with other treatments
Alternatives to SSRIs

Answer 5

SSRIs - Antidepressants that increase levels of serotonin in the body

Combining SSRIs with other treatments - Combine with CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy)

Alternatives to SSRIs - Clomipramine (acts on serotonin and other systems) or SNRIs (Noradrenaline)

Question 6

Biological Treatment: Drug Therapy

Evaluation

Answer 6

Effective at tackling symptoms / SSRIs are superiors to placebos in treating OCD (Soomro et al)

Cost-effective - Compared to psychological treatments, drugs are cheap and non-disruptive

Can have side effects - Indigestion, blurred vision and loss of sex drive, worse for Clomipramine

Some OCD follow trauma