PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Question 1

What is psychopathology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of psychological disorders.

Question 2

What does the deviation from social norms explanation tell us about abnormality?

Answer 2

Someone is classed as abnormal when they violate societal norms (explicit or implicit).

Question 3

Give some examples of deviation from social norms

Answer 3

• Showing inappropriate affect may be a symptom of schizophrenia
• Paedophilia and voyeurism
• Psychopathy

Question 4

Give one strength of the deviation from social norms explanation for abnormality (desirability)

Answer 4

The definition factors in the desirability of the behaviour, which is ignored by other definitions of abnormality. This means that behaviours that are numerically rare can be socially acceptable and therefore not abnormal. For instance, being a genius is statistically abnormal but we wouldn’t want to suggest that it is an abnormal behaviour in terms of psychopathology. This suggests that social norms can be a more useful definition of abnormality than using statistical norms.

Question 5

Give one limitation of the deviation from social norms explanation of abnormality (times)

Answer 5

Social norms vary as times change. What is socially acceptable now may not have been 50 years ago e.g., homosexuality. This suggests that the definition may lack temporal validity unless changing social norms are taken into account. Therefore, the definition should only be used with caution, and perhaps in combination with a more objective definition of abnormality in order to prevent defining people as abnormal simply because the definition has taken into account changing social norms.

Question 6

Give one weakness of the deviation from social norms explanation of abnormality (cultural relativism)

Answer 6

The definition suffers from cultural relativism. Social norms are defined by culture. This means that a person from one cultural group may label someone from another culture as behaving abnormally according to their standards rather than the standards of the person behaving in that way e.g., hearing voices. This suggests that the definition may not be externally valid and so shouldn’t be applied outside the culture it was created in without caution. In particular, the definition creates problems for people from one culture living within another culture group as they may be abiding by their cultures social norms but be deviating from the social norms of the culture in which they now live. Therefore, psychologists must be sensitive to such cultural differences when defining abnormality.

Question 7

What is statistical infrequency in terms of abnormality?

Answer 7

A person’s trait, thinking or behaviour would be considered an indication of abnormality if it was found to be numerically rare. Therefore, it relies on up-to-date statistics. This depends on normal distribution, and any individual who falls outside the ‘normal distribution’, so they occupy the extreme ends of a normal distribution curve are considered to be abnormal.

Question 8

Give one weakness of the statistical infrequency explanation of abnormality (desirability)

Answer 8

There are many statistically rare behaviours that are desirable. For example, very people have an IQ over 150, but we would not want to suggest that having a high IQ is undesirable or abnormal. Therefore, using statistical infrequency to define abnormality means that we are unable to distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviours. This suggests that the definition should never be used in isolation to make a diagnosis.

Question 9

Give a weakness of the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality (cultural relativism)

Answer 9

An issue for the definition is that it is culturally relative. Behaviours that are statistically infrequent in one culture may be statistically more frequent in another. For example, one of the symptoms of schizophrenia is claiming to hear voices, but this experience is common in some cultures. This suggests that the definition may not be externally valid and so shouldn’t be applied outside the culture it was created in without caution. In particular, the definition creates problems for people from one culture living within another culture group as their behaviour may be common in their own culture, but statistically infrequent in the culture in which they are now living. Therefore, psychologists must be sensitive to such cultural differences when defining abnormality.

Question 10

Give a strength of the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality (clinical assessment)

Answer 10

The definition can be useful as part of clinical assessment. For example, it has real-life application in the diagnosis of IDD. There is therefore a plave for statistical infrequency in thinking about normal and abnormal behavioural characteristics. One of the assessments of patients with mental disorders includes some kind of measurement of the severity of symptoms compared to statistical norms. This suggests that the definition is externally valid as it can be applied to usefully applied to different situations to aid in clinical assessments.

Question 11

What is the failure to function adequately definition and what does it say about abnormality?

Answer 11

The definition sees individuals as abnormal when their behaviour suggests that they cannot cope with the demands of everyday living. Behaviour is considered abnormal when it is maladaptive, irrational or dangerous, which causes distress, leading to an inability to function properly e.g., disrupting the ability to work or conduct satisfying interpersonal relationships.

Question 12

What does not functioning adequately cause?

Answer 12

• Distress/suffering for the individual
• Distress to others

Question 13

Give a weakness for the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality (cultural relativism)

Answer 13

The definition suffers from cultural relativism. In some cultures, women are not expected to maintain a job, or people are expected to go without food for significant periods of time. Using the definition, such people would be classified as abnormal simply because their cultural norms differ from out own. This may explain why lower-class and non-white patients are more often classified as abnormal; their lifestyles are different from the dominant culture and this may lead to a judgement of failing to function adequately.

Question 14

Give a weakness for the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality (subjective)

Answer 14

When deciding whether someone is failing to function adequately, someone has to judge whether a patient is distressed or distressing others. Some patients may say that they are distressed but may not be judged as suffering. There are methods for making such assessments as objective as possible. However, the principle remains that someone has the right to make this judgement.

Question 15

Give a strength for the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality (subjective experience)

Answer 15

It attempts to include the subjective experience of the individual. It may not be an entirely satisfactory approach because it is difficult to assess distress, but the definition acknowledges that the experience of the patient is important. Therefore, the definition captures the experience of many who need help. This increases the validity of the explanation of abnormality compared to the other definitions e.g., statistical infrequency.

Question 16

Who proposed the criteria for deviation from ideal mental health?

Answer 16

Jahoda

Question 17

What does the deviation from ideal mental health definition suggest (overview)

Answer 17

This definition looks at the positives rather than the negatives - the idea of mental health rather than mental illness.

Question 18

What are the 6 major criteria for optimal living proposed by Jahoda?

Answer 18

1. Self attitudes
2. Personal growth and self-actualisation
3. Integration
4. Autonomy
5. Having an accurate perception of reality
6. Mastery of the environment

Question 19

Give one weakness of the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality (difficulties in measuring)

Answer 19

The criteria are quite difficult to measure. For example, how easy is it to assess capacity for personal growth or environmental mastery? This means that this approach may be an interesting concept but not really useable when it comes to identifying abnormality because the criteria are too subjective to be applied consistently by psychologists. This could pose problems for psychologists using the definition as one may identify abnormality where another doesn’t. As such, patients who may benefit from treatment may not be given the opportunity to access it.

Question 20

Give a weakness for the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality (time)

Answer 20

Perceptions of reality change over time. Once seeing visions was a positive sign of religious commitment, whilst now it would be perceived as a sign of schizophrenia. This suggests that the definition may not be a valid way of identifying abnormality unless such changes are taken into account.

Question 21

Give a strength of the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality (comprehensive)

Answer 21

The definition is very comprehensive. It covers a broad range of criteria for mental health, and therefore most of the reasons why someone would seek help from mental health services or be referred for help. This suggests that the definition is a useful tool for thinking about mental health, even if it not the most useful for identifying abnormality.

Question 22

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?

Answer 22

• Anxiety
• Emotional responses are unreasonable

Question 23

What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?

Answer 23

• Panic
• Avoidance
• Endurance

Question 24

What are the cognitive characterics of phobias?

Answer 24

• Selective attention to the soruce of the phobia
• Irrational beliefs
• Cognitive distortions

Question 25

What does the behavioural approach emphasise about how phobias are learned?

Answer 25

Emphasises the role of learning in the acquisition of behaviour. It focuses on behaviour we can see, so it is geared towards explaining the behavioural characteristics of phobias, rather than the emotional and cognitive characteristics.

Question 26

What did Mowrer propse?

Answer 26

The two-process model to explain phobias. This argues that phobias are acquired by classical conditioning, and then maintained because of operant conditioning.

Question 27

How is a phobia acquired through the two-process model?

Answer 27

A phobia (conditioned response) is acquired through the association of something that we initially have no fear of (a neutral stimulus) with something that already triggers a fear response.

Question 28

Define one trial learning

Answer 28

This can occur where the phobia is learned after only one pairing of the NS and UCS.

Question 29

Go through the process of classical conditioning for acquiring phobias

Answer 29

Before conditioning:
- Neutral stimulus (dark) = No response
- Unconditioned stimulus (being mugged) = Unconditioned response (fear)
During conditioning:
- Neutral stimulus (dark) + Unconditioned stimulus (being mugged) = Unconditioned response (fear)
After conditioning:
- Conditioned stimulus (dark) = Conditioned response (fear)

Question 30

How does operant conditioning suggest that we maintain a phobia?

Answer 30

Whenever we avoid a phobic stimulus, we successfully escape the fear and anxiety that we would have suffered if we had remained there. This reduction in fear reinforces the avoidance behaviour (via negative reinforcement) and so the phobia is maintained as avoidance is more likely to happen again in the future.

Question 31

Give one piece of supporting evidence for the two-process model (Little Albert)

Answer 31

Watson and Rayner carried out a lab experiment with an 11 month old boy who lived in the hospital where his mother was a nurse. Albert was presented with various stimuli e.g., a white rat and rabbit, and showed no fear reaction to any stimuli. A fear reaction was then induced by striking a steel bar with a hammer behind his head, which made Albert cry. Then, when he reached to touch the rat, the bar and hammer were struck to frighten him. this supports the explanation of phobias, because Albert had a conditioned emotional response. This supports the validity of the theory as an explanation of phobias as some phobias do develop through learning processes.

Question 32

Give a weakness for the two-process model of phobias (evolution)

Answer 32

Sometimes people develop a phobia and are not aware of having had a related bad experience e.g., phobias of snakes. Such cases are likely to be the result of social learning of evolution (as people would have avoided poisonous snakes so as to avoid harm). This implies that the theory is not completely valid as it cant explain the development of all phobias.

Question 33

Give a strength of the two-process model of phobias (therapies)

Answer 33

The two-process model has good explanatory power. It explained how phobias could be maintained over time and this has important implications for therapies because it explains why patients need to be exposed to the feared stimulus. Once a patient is prevented from practising their avoidance behaviour, the behaviour ceases to be reinforced and so it declines. As flooding and systematic desensitisation have been found to be effective, this supports the validity of the explanation as it de-conditioning and preventing avoidance are effective, these may have been involved in the development of the phobia. Additionally, as the explanation is useful for creating effective therapies that improve people’s lives, this supports the external validity of the theory

Question 34

What is flooding?

Answer 34

Form of behavioural therapy used to treat phobias and other anxiety disorders. A client is immediately exposed to an extreme form of the threatening situation (phobic stimulus) where avoidance is prevented until the anxiety reaction is extinguished.

Question 35

What is counterconditioning in flooding?

Answer 35

Learning a new response. In flooding, counterconditioning occurs as a new response to the phobic stimulus is learned.

Question 36

What is reciprocal inhibition?

Answer 36

The idea that you cannot feel afraid and relaxed at the same time, meaning that one emotion prevents the other.

Question 37

Define systematic desensitisation

Answer 37

Works for the same reasons as flooding - counterconditioning and reciprocal inhibition.

Question 38

What is the first step of systematic desensitisation

Answer 38

The patient is taught how to relax, such as breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, being mindful of there ‘here and now’, focusing on a particular object, visualising a peaceful scene or meditation.

Question 39

What is the second step of systematic desensitisation

Answer 39

The therapist and patient together construct an anxiety hierarchy

Question 40

What is the third step of systematic desensitisation

Answer 40

The patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus whilst in a relaxed state, starting at the bottom of the hierarchy. They then practise their relaxation techniques until they can stay relaxed in the presence of the stimulus. They then move onto the next step of the hierarchy. This is then repeated at each step

Question 41

What is the fourth step of systematic desensitisation

Answer 41

The patient eventually masters the feared situation that caused them to seek help in the first place i.e., they can stay relaxed in situations high on the anxiety hierarchy. Therefore, systematic desensitisation works because the participant learns a new response to the phobic stimulus learned. They cannot feel relaxed and afraid at the same time, meaning that one emotion prevents the other.

Question 42

Give one strength for the flooding therapy of phobias (effectiveness)

Answer 42

Flooding is as effective as other therapies at treating specific phobias, with studies finding that it is highly effective and quicker than alternatives This suggests that patients are free of symptoms as soon as possible and so makes treatment cheaper. This impacts the economy as more people will be available to work to increase productivity and mean more people will be paying taxes.

Question 43

Give on weakness for the flooding therapy (appropriateness)

Answer 43

This therapy is a highly traumatic experience. It is not that it is unethical but that many patients are often unwilling to see it through to the end. Therefore, time and money can be wasted preparing patients who then refuse to start or complete treatment. This suggests that less traumatic options such as systematic desensitisation may be more appropriate, especially as it wont make the phobia worse if the patient decides to withdraw.

Question 44

Give a strength for systematic desensitisation (appropriateness)

Answer 44

Patients seem to prefer this therapy. Those given the choice between the two behavioural therapies often choose this one. This is largely because it does not cause the same degree of trauma. This is reflected in the low refusal rates and attrition ration of the therapy. This suggests that systematic desensitisation is more appropriate than flooding as it is less traumatic and people learn relaxation techniques that are useful in the long-term.

Question 45

What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?

Answer 45

• Activity levels
• Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
• Aggression or self harm

Question 46

What are the emotional characteristics of depression?

Answer 46

• Lowered mood
• Anger
• Lowered self esteem

Question 47

What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?

Answer 47

• Poor concentration
• Attending to and dwelling on the negative
• Absolutist thinking

Question 48

What are the two cognitive explanations of depression?

Answer 48

• Ellis’ ABC model
• Beck’s negative triad

Question 49

What did Ellis
ABC model propose towards depression?

Answer 49

The key to mental disorders lay in irrational thoughts (thoughts that interfere with us being happy and free of pain).
A = activating event. Ellis focused on situations in which irrational thoughts are triggered by external events (negative)
B = beliefs. You hold a belief about the event/situation, which may be rational or rational.
C = consequence. You have an emotional response to your belief.

Question 50

What are the three types of irrational beliefs according to Ellis’ ABC model?

Answer 50

• Mustabatory thinking (always succeed and achieve perfection)
• Utopianism (life is always meant to be fair)
• I-cant-stand-it-itis (everything is a major disaster)

Question 51

Give an overview of Beck’s negative triad

Answer 51

Beck suggested a cognitive approach to explaining why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others. It is a person’s cognitions that create this vulnerability.

Question 52

What were the three parts to cognitive vulnerability that Beck suggested?

Answer 52

1. Faulty information processing (when depressed, we focus on the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives)
2. Negative self schemas (acting as a framework for the interpretation of sensory information)
3. The negative triad

Question 53

What are the three aspects of the negative triad in Beck’s explanation of depression?

Answer 53

1. Negative view of the self (where individuals see themselves as being helpless, worthless and inadequate)
2. Negative view of the world (life experiences)
3. Negative view of the future (personal worthlessness is seen as blocking improvements, reducing hopefulness and enhancing depression).

Question 54

Give a weakness of both explanations of depression

Answer 54

Both explanations cannot explain all of the symptoms of depression. For instance, some depressed patients are deeply angry, some suffer hallucinations and very occasionally some suffer Cotard syndrome, the delusion that they are zombies. The explanations cannot easily explain these cases. This suggests that the explanations cannot be considered to be completely valid as they can’t explain all cases of depression.

Question 55

Give one weakness for Ellis’ ABC model

Answer 55

Some cases of depression follow activating events. Psychologists call this reactive depression and see it as different from the kind of depression that arises without an obvious cause. This type of depression is much more difficult for Ellis’ model to explain. This suggests that Ellis’ ABC model only applies to some kinds of depression and so it can only be considered a partial explanation of depression.

Question 56

Give a piece of supporting evidence for Beck’s explanation of depression

Answer 56

A range of evidence supports the idea that depression is associated with faulty information processing, negative self-schemas and the cognitive triad of negative automatic thinking. For example, research has found that women judged to have been high in cognitive vulnerability were more likely to develop post-natal depression. Additionally, a review study concluded that there was solid support for each cognitive vulnerability factor. The cognitions could be seen before depression develops. This suggests that Beck may be right about cognitions causing depression, at least in some cases and so the theory may be internally valid.

Question 57

Give a general overview of CBT

Answer 57

• CBT assists patients to identify irrational thoughts and change them
• As behaviour is seen as being generated by thinking, the most logical and effective way is changing maladaptive behaviour is to change the irrational thinking underlying it

Question 58

What are the cognitive and behavioural elements of CBT?

Answer 58

• Cognitive: Identifying and challenging irrational thoughts
• Behavioural: Once irrational thoughts have been identified, coping strategies are developed (behavioural change)

Question 59

What are the 5 key elements of CBT?

Answer 59

1. Identifying irrational thoughts
2. Challenging the irrational thoughts through direct questioning - disputing
3. The effect is more rational thoughts leading to feeling better
4. Behavioural activation
5. Homework

Question 60

For CBT, what do the D and the E stand for?

Answer 60

D = disputing irrational thoughts
E = effect

Question 61

What are the two types of direct questioning used to dispute irrational thoughts?

Answer 61

• Logical disputing involved the therapist challenging irrational thoughts to show they do not logically follow from the information available
• Empirical disputing involves the therapist challenging irrational thoughts to show that they may not be consistent with reality.

Question 62

Elaborate on how homework is used in CBT

Answer 62

Clients are often asked to complete homework assignments between therapy sessions. This might include asking a person out on a date when they had been too afraid to so do for fear of rejection, looking for a new job, asking friends to tell them what they really think of the person etc. This is vital in testing irrational thoughts against reality and putting new rational beliefs into practice.

Question 63

Elaborate on behavioural activation and its role in CBT

Answer 63

CBT often involves a specific focus on encouraging depressed clients to become more active and engage in pleasurable activities. This is based on the common sense idea that being active leads to rewards that act as an antidote to depression. Such activity then provides more evidence of the irrational nature of the client’s thoughts.

Question 64

Give a piece of supporting evidence for CBT (effectiveness)

Answer 64

There is lots of evidence to suggest that CBT is effective in treating depression. For example, it has been found that after 36 weeks, 81% of depressed patients treated with CBT, 81% of depressed patients treated with medication, and 86% of depressed patients treated with a combination of the two had significantly improved. This suggests that there is a good case for making CBT the first choice treatment for the NHS as it is more likely to be effective in the long-term by teaching clients new behaviours and ways to challenge their own thinking, and therefore it should be used to treat depression.

Question 65

Give a weakness for CBT (effectiveness and appropriateness)

Answer 65

One of the basic principles of CBT is that the focus is on the present and future rather than the past. This is in contrast to some other therapies. Some clients are aware of the link between childhood experiences and current depression and want to talk about these experiences. They can therefore find the ‘present-focus’ very frustrating. This suggests that if depression is due to psychodynamic factors, CBT will not be an effective treatment for depression. Additionally, it may not be suitable for people who want to explore the effects of the past on their depression, and so CBT should only be used in some cases of treating depression.

Question 66

Give one weakness for CBT (appropriateness)

Answer 66

In some cases, depression can be so severe that patients cannot motivate themselves to engage with the hard cognitive work of CBT. They may not even be able to pay attention to what is happening in a session. In such cases, it may be possible to treat patients with medication initially, and commence CBT when they are more alert and motivated. This suggests that CBT cannot be used as the sole treatment for all cases of depression as it is more effective and then the drug therapy would be used to alleviate the most severe symptoms and then when patients have the motivation to engage they could then start CBT. This would mean it then has the same long-term benefits as with medication, meaning that it should be used to treat depression.

Question 67

What are the emotional characteristics of OCD

Answer 67

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Negative emotions

Question 68

What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?

Answer 68

• Obsession
• Cognitive coping strategies
• Hypervigilance
• Catastrophic thinking

Question 69

What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?

Answer 69

• Compulsion
• Avoidance

Question 70

What are the two main biological explanations for OCD?

Answer 70

• Neural explanations
• Genetic explanations

Question 71

How do abnormal neurotransmitter levels impact OCD?

Answer 71

• An electrical message arrives in the axon terminal.
• This triggers the synaptic vesicles to release neurotransmitters into the synaptic gap
• The neurotransmitters diffuse across the synaptic gap and bind to the post-synaptic receptor sites on the dendrite of the post-synaptic neuron
• This then triggers the post-synaptic neuron to begin a new electrical message (action potential)
• The neurotransmitters then get reabsorbed back into the axon terminal in a process called reuptake.

Question 72

What are the chemical messengers involved in OCD?

Answer 72

• Dopamine (biological equivalent of positive reinforcement) levels are thought to be abnormally high in people with OCD.
• Lower levels of serotonin activity in the brain are also associated with OCD. The lower levels of serotonin are associated with the obsessive thoughts experienced in people with OCD.

Question 73

What is the second neural explanation for OCD?

Answer 73

Abnormal brain circuits

Question 74

Outline how abnormal brain circuits cause OCD

Answer 74

OFC sends a signal about a ‘minor’ worry (more than usual due to higher levels of activity in the OFC). The caudate nucleus is damaged and so the message continues to the thalamus (it is not suppressed). The thalamus creates the impulse to act. The thalamus sends a message back to the OFC, creating a ‘worry circuit’. The worries become obsessions, and impulses to act become compulsions.

Question 75

What are the two gene forms that are involved in OCD?

Answer 75

The COMT and SERT gene

Question 76

How is the COMT gene involved in OCD?

Answer 76

One form of the gene leads to lower activity of the gene. This causes higher levels of dopamine, which causes OCD (compulsive behaviours - overactivity in basal ganglia impacts the caudate nucleus).

Question 77

How is the SERT gene involved in OCD?

Answer 77

One form of the gene affects the transportation of serotonin. This causes lower levels of serotonin, which causes OCD (obsessive thoughts - higher levels of activity in OFC)

Question 78

Give a piece of undermining evidence for both biological explanations of OCD

Answer 78

Environmental factors can also trigger or increase the risk of developing OCD./ For example, it has been found that over half of OCD patients in one study had a traumatic experience in their past, and that OCD was more severe in participants with more than one trauma. This suggests that OCD cannot be entirely biological in origin, at least not in all cases. It may be more productive to focus on environmental causes of OCD because we are more able to do something about these and so they may have more real world applications than biological explanations.

Question 79

Give one piece of supporting evidence for the neural explanation of OCD

Answer 79

There is evidence to support the role of some neural mechanisms in OCD. For example, antidepressants that only alter levels of serotonin have been effective in reducing OCD symptoms. This suggests that the serotonin system is involved in OCD and that therefore the theory has some validity.

Question 80

Give a piece of undermining evidence for the genetic explanation of OCD

Answer 80

Twin studies make the assumption that identical twins are only more similar than non-identical in terms of their genes. They overlook that identical twins may also be more similar in terms of shared environments. Therefore the studies to support the role of genetics can’t strongly support the validity of the theory as they cannot determine cause and effect between genetics and OCD.

Question 81

How do SSRIs work?

Answer 81

• Serotonin is released by certain neurons in the brain
• Serotonin is released by the presynaptic neurons and travels across the synapse
• Serotonin binds to the receptor sites on the post-synaptic neuron and conveys the signal from the pre-synaptic neuron to the post-synaptic neuron
• Serotonin is reabsorbed by the presynaptic neuron where it is broken down and reused
• SSRIs prevent the reabsorption and breakdown of serotonin
• This compensates for whatever is wrong with the serotonin system in OCD
• This effectively increases the levels of serotonin in the synapse and they continue to stimulate the post-synaptic neuron
• This compensates for whatever is wrong with the serotonin system in OCD
• This therefore alleviates the symptoms of OCD.

Question 82

Give a weakness of SSRIs (appropriateness)

Answer 82

A significant minority of users of SSRIs get no benefit from doing so. Some patients also have side effects, such as indigestion, blurred vision, loss of sex drive, nausea, headaches and insomnia. For patients taking Clomipramine, side effects are more common and more serious. More than one in ten suffer erection problems, tremors and weight gain. More than 1/100 become aggressive and suffer disruption to blood pressure and heart rhythm. This suggests that the treatment may not be appropriate for all patients, and may do more harm than good, and so should only be prescribed with caution. The side effects could also explain some suggestions that drug therapies are not very effective as people may stop taking the medication due to the side effects and so not get better.

Question 83

Give a strength of SSRIs as a way of treating OCD (appropriateness)

Answer 83

Drug therapies are cheap compared to psychological treatments. Using drugs to treat OCD is therefore good value for a public health system like the NHS. SSRIs are also less disruptive to patient’s lives. You simply take drugs until your symptoms decline, rather than having to engage with the hard work of psychological therapy. This explains why many doctors and patients like drug therapies as a means of treating OCD and therefore that they should be used to do so.

Question 84

Give a weakness for the effectiveness of drug therapies for OCD

Answer 84

Some psychologists have suggested that drug therapies are not a lasting cure for OCD. This is indicated by the fact that patients often relapse within a few weeks if medication is stopped. Drugs reduce the anxiety associated with OCD to such a level that a more normal lifestyle can be achieved. However, they do not change the cognitions or behaviours. This suggests that whilst drug therapies are effective in the short-term, they are not always an effective long-term treatment for OCD. Furthermore, as the drug therapies do not change the cognitions or behaviours, this implies that biology may not be the sole cause of OCD, explaining why biological treatments along can’t be 100% effective in treating the condition.