P - the biological approach to treating OCD (AO3)

Question 1

What is a strength of drug treatment in treating OCD? - Considerable supporting evidence

Answer 1

===> Soomro et al (2009) reviewed 17 studies comparing SSRIs to placebos and all showed significantly better results for SSRIs in the short-term - average 70% patients had improved symptoms. Limitation of this is that studies typically for 3-4 months and there’s a lack of research on the long-term effects of drug therapy

Question 2

What is a limitation of drug treatment in treating OCD? - Concern of publication bias

Answer 2

===> Turner (2008) Found more studies published in peer reviewed journal show the treatment to be effective. Critically explained by the fact that drug companies often have a strong interest in the continuing success of their drug? Drug companies don’t publish all their results and could be suppressing evidence, known as the file drawer problem. Evidence published may be very biased towards positive outcomes

Question 3

What’s a strength of drug therapy? - More cost-effective compared to talking therapies

Answer 3

===> Economic benefits for NHS and drug therapies are less disruptive of patients’ life (one tablet a day vs weekly sessions)

Question 4

What’s a limitation of drug therapies? - Unpleasant side effects

Answer 4

===> Long-term SSRI therapy can cause sexual dysfunction, weight gain and sleep disturbance. If extreme, patients stop taking them and reduces effectiveness. Clinician needs to do a cost-benefit analysis to make sure QOL isn’t reduced further