Task 4

Question 1

As what was OCD classified before the DSM 5?

Answer 1

An anxiety disorder

Question 2

What is the typical age of onset of OCD?

Answer 2

Males: between 6 and 15
Females: between 20 and 29

Question 3

What is the lifetime prevalence of OCD?

Answer 3

1 - 3%

Question 4

How is OCD culturally dependent?

Answer 4

It is more prevalent in WEIRD countries

Question 5

What are common comorbidities of OCD?

Answer 5

• Depression
• Substance use disorder
• anxiety and panic disorders

Question 6

How do OCD patients differ from the normal populations according to the Cognitive-Behavioral Theory of OCD?

Answer 6

Most people have intrusive thoughts, but people with OCD cannot turn these off or ignore them.

Question 7

According to the Cognitive-Behavioral Theory of OCD, how is anxiety connected with OCD?

Answer 7

Anxious people have more trouble letting go of troubling thoughts. Thus keeping compulsions in check is more difficult and they can induce feelings of guilt, which further increase the anxiety.

Question 8

What are the main differences between clinical obsessions and normal ones?

Answer 8

Clinical obsessions are more frequent, intense and have a longer duration.
Additionally, they don’t show habituation effects as strongly as they are harder to get used to.

Question 9

What is a biological theory explaining the lack of control over the obsessions?

Answer 9

There is hyperactivity in the OFC and Caudate Nucleus, which results in difficulties turning off primitive impulses reaching the Thalamus

Question 10

Biological treatments of OCD show high relapse rate, but are still capable of at least reducing the symptoms. Which are commonly used medications?

Answer 10

Serotonin Enhancers and Antidepressants

Question 11

Which treatment paradigm seems to be most effective in OCD patients and what dies it consist of?

Answer 11

CBT

• > Exposure and Response Therapy
• > Challenging moralistic thoughts and excessive sense of responsibility

Question 12

What is a frequently used concept used to justify hoarding in hoarding disordered patients?

Answer 12

Animism

Question 13

Inhibitory learning says that CS-US associations aren’t unlearned, but rather replaced by a new association. What does this mean for the effect of exposure therapy?

Answer 13

• > Fears might reappear after a long time of not experiencing the CS
• > Renewal of fears might happen as a result of changing environment
• > Fear is easily reestablished if another CS-US pairing occurs after treatment

Question 14

What are some strategies for getting the best results out of exposure therapy?

Answer 14

• Expectancy Violation: Making the difference between what the patient initially expects and what happens as large as possible
• Occasional Reinforcement Extinction: Occasional CS-US pairings during extinction. This has the effect that the outcome of the treatment is more resilient against CS-US pairings after treatment. Additionally, this increases the expectancy violation within the extinction process
• Removal of Safety Signals
• Affect labeling: linguistic labeling can improve outcomes, as speech centrums in the brain have an inhibitory effect on the amygdala.