OCD Flashcards
(20 cards)
What is OCD?
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
A mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive activity
What is an obsession?
What is a compulsion?
1) thoughts - internal components
2) behaviours - external components
What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?
1) repetitive behaviours (compulsions) performed to reduce anxiety
2) avoidance of situations that might trigger anxiety
What are emotional characteristics of OCD?
1) anxiety and distress
2) shame and embarrassment over excessive nature of behaviour
3) guilt
3) reduction of anxiety when compulsions are performed
What are clinical characteristics of OCD?
1) recurrent, intrusive and uncontrollable thoughts (obsessions)
2) irrational and distorted beliefs
3)Obsessions recognised as being irrational excessive
4) selective attention to obsession
5) catastrophic thinking
How is OCD explained by genetics?
OCD is hereditary and can be passed from parent to child through genetic inheritance
What is a candidate gene?
A gene found to be responsible for illness
How does the COMT gene explain OCD?
One form of the COMT gene leads to lower activity of the enzyme and therefore higher levels of dopamine (no enzyme to break it down) which leads to irrational thoughts
How does the SERT gene explain OCD?
a mutation of the SERT gene leads to higher activity of this protein and therefore lower levels of serotonin which is linked to anxiety
What is a strength of the genetic argument?
1) research to support it because 68% of identical twins showed concordance for OCD compared to 31% in non-identical twins suggesting a genetic element (Nestadt (2010))
What are the limitations of the genetic argument?
1) it is more difficult to draw firm conclusions as identical twins are treated more similarly to non-identical twins so may have learned the behaviours from each other (doesn’t exclude environmental factors) and no 100% concordance
2) polygenic- too many candidate genes have been identified
3) aetiological heterogeneity suggests different combinations of genes may cause disorder in different people
How does serotonin cause OCD?
Low levels of serotonin have a knock-on effect on regulating the levels of other neurotransmitters which is based on drug therapy improving symptoms
What is the worry circuit?
If the caudate nucleus is damaged, the ‘worry’ signals are not blocked and the thalamus is alerted which then sends a signal back to the orbitofrontal cortex creating a circuit
What is a strength of the neural explanation?
60% of patients got better after taking SSRIs
What are limitations of the neural explanation?
1) not known if problems are a cause of consequence of OCD (treatment-aetiology fallacy)
2) not all OCD sufferers have a damaged caudate nucleus and not all people with a damaged caudate nucleus have OCD
How can drug therapy be used to treat OCD?
1) SSRIs prevent reuptake of serotonin leaving greater amounts in the synapse stimulating the post synaptic neuron
2) Tricyclis block reuptake of serotonin an noradrenaline
3) benzodiazepines enhance bonding of GABA to GABA-A receptors and open a flow of chloride ion channels which make post synaptic neuron less responsive to excitatory NTs
What are the strengths of the effectiveness of drug therapy?
1) In 17 studies of people with OCD all 17 had reduced symptoms after taking serotonin increasing drugs
2) BZs. More effective at reducing anxiety than a placebo
What is a limitation of the effectiveness of drug therapy?
only 60% of clients improved so individual differences in how people respond to drug therapy
What is a strength of the appropriateness of drug therapy?
Fast acting and require little effort
What are the limitations of the appropriateness of drug therapy?
1) does not cure OCD just treats symptoms
2) negative side effects to taking drugs such as nausea and headaches with SSRIs and amnesia with BZs
