OCD & PTSD

Question 1

symptoms of OCD

Answer 1

• obsessions and/or compulsions
• time consuming (1hr+ daily)
• distress and impairment

Question 2

insight specifier for OCD

Answer 2

1. recognizing that cognitive impairments lead to untrue obsessions (good insight)
2. feeling that obsessions are mostly untrue but not completely (moderate insight)
3. believing that obsessions are true (lack of insight)

Question 3

common types of obsessions

Answer 3

• order
• losing control
• cleaning/contamination
• hoarding (separate disorder)

Question 4

obsessions

Answer 4

recurrent unwanted thoughts or mental images

Question 5

compulsions

Answer 5

functionally repetitive behaviors that a person is driven to repeat

Question 6

types of behavioral compulsions

Answer 6

• checking
• reassuring
• cleaning/washing self
• arranging
• repeating
• counting

Question 7

types of mental compulsions

Answer 7

• counting

- praying

Question 8

symptoms of PTSD

Answer 8

• 1 month +
• trauma
• 1+ intrusive symptom
• 1+ avoidance symptom
• 2+ negative changes to mood and cognition
• 2+ changes to arousal and reactivity

Question 9

PTSD intrusive symptoms

Answer 9

• memories of the trauma
• nightmares of the trauma
• dissociation
• distress as a reaction to trauma-related cues
• physiological reactions to trauma-related cues

Question 10

PTSD avoidance symptoms

Answer 10

• avoiding internal emotions, thoughts, or memories

- avoiding external reminders of the event

Question 11

types of trauma

Answer 11

• threatened or actual deathly situation
• serious injury
• sexual violence
• directly witnessing something happen to someone else
• learning about trauma happening to a friend/relative

Question 12

PTSD changes to arousal/reactivity

Answer 12

• irritability/angry outbursts
• self-destructive behavior
• hypervigilance
• heightened startle response
• unable to concentrate

Question 13

acute stress disorder

Answer 13

same symptoms of PTSD but lasts for less than one month

Question 14

event that triggered PTSD becoming an official diagnosis

Answer 14

Vietnam War

Question 15

OCD treatment

Answer 15

• exposure therapy with response prevention
• cognitive restructuring: assessing accuracy of thoughts
• antidepressants
• cingulotomy (brain surgery)

Question 16

PTSD treatment

Answer 16

• exposure therapy

- benzodiazepines may be described but are not common

Question 17

body dysmorphic disorder

Answer 17

characterized by excessive preoccupation with a perceived defect or defects in appearance and repetitive behaviors to hide the perceived defect

Question 18

catastrophic thinking

Answer 18

the belief that certain imperfections will lead to dire consequences

Question 19

neurological factors of OCD

Answer 19

• neural loop activity
• abnormal frontal cortex and basal ganglia
• abnormal brain circuit operation
• genetic predisposition

Question 20

psychological factors of OCD

Answer 20

• operant conditioning: compulsions are negatively reinforced when they relieve anxiety
• attention bias: pay more attention to threat-relevant stimuli

Question 21

social factors of OCD

Answer 21

significant social stressors typically trigger OCD onset

Question 22

factors that affect whether a disorder will develop following a traumatic event

Answer 22

• type of trauma (violence is more likely to lead to a disorder)
• severity of traumatic event
• duration of trauma
• proximity of trauma

Question 23

neurological factors of PTSD

Answer 23

• sympathetic nervous system overreacts
• hippocampus abnormality
• norepinephrine and serotonin increases

Question 24

psychological factors of PTSD

Answer 24

• pre-existing beliefs about the world and self
• poor coping mechanisms
• pre-existing disorder
• prior trauma
• classical conditioning: stimuli can become conditioned to elicit powerful responses

Question 25

social factors of PTSD

Answer 25

• socioeconomic factors affect ability to cope and risk of experiencing trauma
• lack of social support systems
• culture