Treating OCD Flashcards
What is the aim of drug therapy for OCD?
To regulate the levels of neurotransmitters in out brain
What are the three types of drug that treats OCD?
- SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)
- Benzodiazepines
- Tricyclics
What do SSRIs aim to do? How do they do this?
They aim to increase levels of serotonin in the brain by blocking the reuptake in the neurons
- People with OCD have less serotonin being released, or it is reabsorbed too quickly
- SSRI blocks the reuptake of serotonin
- Post-synaptic neuron is more likely to fire
- This compensates for the lack of serotonin that would naturally be in the individual’s system
What do benzodiazepines do? How do they do this?
They increase the effect of the neurotransmitter GABA (natural stress inhibition on neurons by making them more negatively charged)
1. When GABA locks onto a receptor site, the flow of chloride ions (Cl-) into the neuron is released
2. The chloride ions make it more difficult for the recieving neuron to be stimulated by further neurotransmitters, as their negative charge stops the post synaptic neuron from firing
3. BZs combine with GABA receptors and open the channels more often, allowing a greater flow of chloride ions
What do tricyclics do?
They are antidepressants that block the reuptake of serotonin AND noradrenaline and are used when SSRI’s are not effective
What are the evaluations for the strengths of OCD drug therapies?
They work effectively
* There is a lot of support for the effectiveness of drug treatments
* A review was done of 17 studies of the use of SSRIs with OCD patients and found them to be more effective than placebos in reducting effects of OCD
* Effectiveness is greatest when SSRIs are combined with a psychological treatment, usually CBT. Symptoms usually decline significantly for around 70% of patients taking SSRIs. Of the remaining 30%, alternative drug treatments or combinations of drug and psychological treamtnets will be effective for some
* This demonstrates that drugs can help most patients with OCD, showing this therapy to be hugely beneficial for the majority
Drug therapies are preferred to other treatments
* They are cheap compared to psychological treatments
* Using drugs to treat OCD is therefore good value for a public health system such as the NHS, as an alternative such as CBT would be far more expensive
* In addition, SSRIs are not disruptive to a patient’s life and not much effort is needed at all. People can simply take the drugs until their symptoms decline and not enagage with hard work needed for therapy
* These beneifts mean that drug therapies are better valur for the NHS and preferred by many patients as well
What are the evaluations for the weaknesses of OCD drug therapies?
Drugs can have side effects
* A major limitation is that drugs can have side effects
* Nausea, headache and insomnia are common side effects of SSRIs, and can stop the patient taking the drug even if they are not severe
* Tricyclics tend to have more side effects such as hallucinations and an irregular heartbeat and are therefore only used when SSRIs are not effective. BZs have the side effects of increased aggression and long term impairment of memory, and can lead to an addiction. This results in a limited recommendation of maximum 4 weeks
* Thereofre, despite effectiveness, the side effects and the possibility of addiction limit the usefulness of drugs as treaments for OCD
Not a lasting cure
* A major issue with drug treaments is that they are not a long lasting cure for those with OCD
* Although SSRIs work by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain which helps alleviate the symptoms, they do not treat the underlying cause of OCD
* Furthermore, it has been found that patients relapse within a few weeks of when medication is stopped, therefore their symptoms return
* This matters as it suggests that, while drug therapy requires little effort and may work short term, it does not provide a lasting cure and other therapies, such as CBT, may be more useful long term
