Psychopathology- OCD Flashcards
What is OCD?
A condition characterised by and/or compulsive behaviour
What is the cycle of OCD?
Obsessive thought, anxiety, compulsive behaviour, temporary relief,
What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?
Compulsions, avoidance
What are the emotional characteristics of OCD?
Anxiety/distress, accompanying depression, guilt and disgust
What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?
Obsessive thoughts, cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions (disgust, excessive hand washing), insight into excessive anxiety
What is the diathesis stress model?
Diathesis- genetic vulnerability
Environmental stresser- goes through trauma, development of disorder is triggered.
What are the genetic explanations for OCD?
Lewis found that 37% of ocd patients had parents with ocd, and 21% had siblings. Diathesis stress.
What are candidate genes?
Range of genes which create vulnerability to developing OCD
What is an example of an OCD candidate gene?
COMT gene- associated with regulation of dopamine, mutation meaning higher levels could cause OCD.
What does it mean that “OCD is polygenic”?
Not caused by just one gene, Taylor (2013) found that there could be up to 230 involved.
What is a strength of the biological approach to explaining OCD?
Supporting evidence.
Lewis- 37% patients had parents with OCD, 21% with siblings.
High internal validity
What is a weakness of the biological approach to explaining OCD?
No 100% concordance rate.
No MZ twin study able to establish 100% concordance suggesting there are other factors, not only biological, contributing to OCD.
Reductionist.
Explain neurochemisty and neurotransmitters as a neural explanation for OCD
Serotonin plays a part- low levels =mood disorders.
Dopamine- high levels associated with compulsive behaviours in OCD
Explain neuroanatomy as a neural explanation for OCD
Basal ganglia- brain structure involved in coordination. Damage can cause OCD symptoms.
Orbitofrontal cortex- heightened activity can cause OCD symptoms, mostly compulsions.
What is a strength of neural explanations for OCD?
Supporting evidence
Brains of OCD patients are structured and function differently to others. Increased activity.
What is a weakness of neural explanations of OCD?
Ignores other factors.
Some psychologists suggest OCD may be learnt through CC and maintained through OC- behavioural.
Reductionist
How is drug therapy used to treat OCD?
Aims to increase/ decrease levels of neurotransmitters.
How do SSRIs work?
Block the reuptake of serotonin into nerve cells, allowing more serotonin to remain in the synaptic gap and enhancing communication between nerve cells.
What are benzodiazepines?
Range of of anti- anxiety drugs e.g. diazepam
How do benzodiazepines work?
Enhancing action of neurotransmitter “GABA”. Tells neurones in brain to stop firing. General inhibitory influence and reduces anxiety.
What is a strength of the biological approach to treating OCD?
Cost effective in comparison to psychological treatments
E.g. CBT. Drs prefer, beneficial for healthcare service providers.
High external validity
What is a weakness of the biological approach to treating OCD?
Great deal of contradictory research.
Symptoms have sometimes been made worse- exact function of neurotransmitters in development of OCD is not understood- drugs only show partial alleviation of symptoms.
Low internal validity
