psychpath- OCD

Question 1

In the ‘emotional’ category of characteristics of OCD
what are the 3 subtopics, name and explain them

Answer 1

1- Anxiety and distress: Obssessive thoughts that are unpleasant, and the anxiety that goes with these thoughts can be very overwhelming
2- Guilt and disgust: irrational guilt over a minor issue
3- Accompanying depression: experience low mood to

Question 2

In the ‘behavioural’ category of characteristics of OCD
what are the 2 subtopics, name and explain them

Answer 2

1- Compulsions: repeating specific actions e.g. excessive hand washing
2- Avoidance: avoiding a situation that triggers anxiety e.g. stop coming in contact with germs to stop hand washing

Question 3

In the ‘cognitive’ category of characteristics of OCD
what are the 2 subtopics, name and explain them

Answer 3

1- Obsessive thoughts: 90% of OCD sufferers have intrusive re-occcuring thoughts r.g. about being contaminated by germs
2- Insight into excessive anxiety: Awareness that thoughts are irrational e.g. they are over aware and hyper vigilant about their obsession

Question 4

Define OCD

Answer 4

OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsion Disorder which is when people have obsessive thoughts and compulsive activity

Question 5

define what an obsession is

Answer 5

an obsession is an unwanted thought that repeatedly enters your mind, causing feelings of anxiety, disgust or unease

Question 6

define what a compulsion is

Answer 6

a compulsion is a repetitive behaviour or mental act that you feel the need to carry out, for temporary relieve from the obsessive thoughts
Carrying out compulsions is time consuming and interferes with normal functioning

Question 7

Name and explain the 4 categories of OCD

Answer 7

OCD- sits in its own category of disorders
Hoarding disorder- getting possessions and having difficulty letting them go
Trichotillomania- Pulling and breaking your own hair
Excoriation- Skin picking and can’t stop it

Question 8

Define concordance rate

Answer 8

A measure of genetic similarity
e.g. 100 twin pairs and one has a phobia disorder

Question 9

define Dopamine

Answer 9

One of the key neurotransmitters in the brain, with effects on motivation and ‘drive’

Question 10

Neurotransmitter

Answer 10

A chemical substance in the nervous system which transmits nerve impulses across a synapse

Question 11

Genetic explanations of OCD

Genes are involved in how vu______ someone is to OCD
name the researcher L____ (193_) who observed his OCD patients and found that 7% had parents with OCD, and 2% had siblings with OCD.

Answer 11

researcher is Lewis 1936
37%
21%

Question 12

Hhow does the diathesis-stress-model explain OCD

Answer 12

There is an OCD gene which makes someone vulnerable, and if a person has a stressor in their environment, will trigger the gene and develop behaviours which will be displayed.

Question 13

What are candidate genes

Answer 13

researchers believe that candidate genes have been implicated in the development of OCD. These genes tend to be involved in regulating serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that facilitates message transfer across synapses

Question 14

There are two candidate genes, which create vulnerability to OCD, which are involved in regulating the development of the serotonin system
name and explain them

Answer 14

SERT gene: linked to serotonin transportation and if the gene is defective, then the serotonin levels can be disrupted (lowered), which is associated with OCD
COMT gene: helps regulate dopamine, a low activity version of the gene results in increased levels of dopamine which is associated with OCD

Question 15

What is OCD thought to be
what does it mean

Answer 15

OCD is thought to be a Polygenic
this means that its development is not determined by a single gene, but a few.

Question 16

what is a strength of the genetic explanations of OCD
twins
research Nes___ 20_0

Answer 16

a strength is there is a wide range of evidence to demonstrate that people are vulnerable to OCD because of the genetic makeup.
For example, Nestadt et al 2010 found 68% of twins shared OCD, compared to 31% of non-identical twins.
This suggests that there is genetic influence to OCD because they those with identical genes are more likely to inherit OCD, compared to the general population

Question 17

What is a weakness of genetic explanations of OCD
env
research Cro_____ 200_
dia____ stre__mo___

Answer 17

a weakness is that there are separate factors, such as environment, which can also trigger the risk of developing OCD, whichis the diathesis stress model.
For example, Cromer et al 2007 found half the OCD ppts had traumatic events in the past, and they had more severe OCD.
This is a weakness for the biological approach because there is evidence that environmental factors impacted OCD as well

Question 18

What are the other explanations for OCD aside from genetic

Answer 18

Neural Explanations

Question 19

Define what is meant by Neural explanations

Answer 19

the genes associated with OCD are likely to afffect the levels of key neurotransmitters as well as structure of the brain, these are called neural explanations

Question 20

what is the role of serotonin in ‘neural explanation’

what happens if theres low levels of serotonin

what is OCD seen as

Answer 20

serotonin helps mood regulation and neurotransmitters are responsible for relaying information from one neuron to another
if there are low levels of serotonin- the normal transition of mood related information doesn’t happened, which affected the mood and mental processing

OCD is seen as reduction in the functioning of the serotonin system in the brain

Question 21

What OCD disorder links to difficulty in decision making and where is the abnormal functioning in the brain

which part of the brain is responsible for logical thought and making decisions

Answer 21

Hoarding disorder in OCD is associated with impaired decision making, if there’s abnormal functioning of the lateral (side parts) of the frontal lobes of the brain

frontal lobe

Question 22

What is a strength and weakness to neural explanations of OCD

Answer 22

strength - There’s evidence support for neural mechanisms in OCD. For example, antidepressants work only on the serotonin system, increasing levels of neurotransmitters. Antidepressants are effective because they reduce symptoms of OCD, which demonstrates that the serotonin system is involved in OCD.
weakness- Studies that research decision-making show that these neural systems are the same systems that function abnormally in OCD as well as decision making.
This means that neural explanations have reduced reliability because there isn’t enough consistent evidence to show that neural mechanisms are involved in OCD

Question 23

The biological approach how ways of treating OCD
name the two treatments

Answer 23

1- drug therapy
2- SSRI’s

Question 24

Explain how drug therapy treats OCD

Answer 24

drug therapy aims to increase or decrease levels of neurotransmitters in the brain or increase/decrease thier activity

Question 25

using serotonin as an example, explain how drug therapy can treat OCD

Answer 25

Low levels of serotonin is associated with OCD symptoms, so drug therapy works in different way in order to increase the levels of serotonin in the brain to reduce or even eradicate those obsessive thoughts

Question 26

The standard medical treatment for OCD is SSRI’s, but what does it stand for

Answer 26

SSRI’s stands for - Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor

Question 27

what do SSRI’s prevent

Answer 27

they prevent re-absorbtion and breakdown of serotonin in the brain, which increases its levels in the synapse, which allows the serotonin to stimulate the postsynaptic neuron.
This compensates what was wrong with the serontonin system with someone who has OCD

Question 28

How do SSRI’s work there are 5 steps
1- The SSRI bl_____ a reuptake ch____l so that s________ from the vesicles (A small sac formed by a membrane and filled with liquid) cannot get b____ into the pre-sy_____ neuron
2- This means that there’s m____ serotonin in the s______, that are more likely to att___ to a ____t-synaptic receptor
3- This will keep the channel o____ so that the message transmit qu____
4- A l____ of serotonin can result in OCD
5- The serotonin can still get o__ of the blocked reuptake channel, but can’t get b____ in

Answer 28

1- The SSRI blocks a reuptake channel so that serotonin from the vesicles (A small sac formed by a membrane and filled with liquid) cannot get back into the pre-synaptic neuron
2- This means that there’s more serotonin in the synapse, that are more likely to attach to a post-synaptic receptor
3- This willl keep the channel open so that the message transmit quickly
4- A lack of serotonin can result in OCD
5- The serotonin can stil get out of the blocked reuptake channel, but can’t get back in

Question 29

What is the typical dosage for SSRI’s= _0mg
How long does it take of daily-use for SSRI’s to impact symptoms
how much dosage can it go up to, if appropriate
would this be seen as a strength or weakness to SSRI’s

Answer 29

dose of Fluoxetine (an SSRI) is 20 mg
3-4 months
60mg
weakness due to how long it take for an impact

Question 30

Name the 3 alternative SSRI’s

Answer 30

1- Tricyclics= old type of anti-depressant, more side effects
2- SNRI’s serontonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor = 2nd line of defence
3- Anti-anxiety drugs GABA= slow activity in brain so it quietens the irrational thoughts

Question 30

explain how combining SSRI’s with CBT would work

Answer 30

• drugs are used alonside CBT to treat OCD, so this combination can be CBT effective, because the drugs reduce a patients emotional symptoms (anxiety), so they can engage with the CBT

Question 31

what are the 2 strengths the biologcal approach has for treating OCD

Answer 31

P- That drug therapy is effective at tackling OCD symptoms.
E- For example, Soomoro el al 2009, compared SSRI’s and placebos, and concluded that all 17 studies had better results in SSRI’s than the placebo, and the symptoms declined 70%.
E- This demonstrates it has real life application, due to it improving several patients quality of life.
L- The shows hoe SSRI’s have positively impacted patients, by helping reduce the OCD symptoms

Another strength is that Drugs are cost effect and aren’t disruptive to life.
For example, you don’t have to engage in psychological therapy which is often time consuming. Therefore, people can continue with their everyday routine and go to work without having commit to going to several sessions per week.
This means that the economy is positively impacts to as less people call of sick due to their symptoms are reduce by taking SSRI’s.

Question 32

What is a weakness of the biological approach to treating OCD

Answer 32

However, Drugs can have side-effects. For example, some patients can suffer such severe side effects including irritability, disturbance of sleep patterns, which impact the patient more than the symptoms of OCD. Therefore, this questions the effectiveness on SSRI’s if they are giving a patient more suffering than in the first place. This means that it can’t be generalised to everyone that it improves their quality of life, because the impact of this drug therapy for some people, decreases their quality of life