Biological explanations and treatment of OCD
- Created by: maddieecarr
- Created on: 06-04-22 16:21
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- The biological approach to OCD
- Explanations of OCD
- Neural
- Poor levels of serotonin are thought to be a cause of OCD as there is a reduction of brain function.
- Poor decision making may be due to brain structures functioning abnormally such as parahippocampal gurus and frontal lobes
- Poor levels of serotonin are thought to be a cause of OCD as there is a reduction of brain function.
- Genetic
- Ther is a genetic vulnerability to OCD found in studies which find high concordance rates of OCD between MZ twins compared to DZ twins.
- OCD is polygenic and aetiologically heterogeneous
- Specific candidate genes may cause OCD to develop
- Ther is a genetic vulnerability to OCD found in studies which find high concordance rates of OCD between MZ twins compared to DZ twins.
- Neural
- Evaluating the explanations of OCD
- Strengths
- G: good supporting evidence from twin studies
- N: supporting evidence based on symptoms of OCD appearing in neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s
- Weaknesses
- N: should not assume the role of neural mechanisms in OCD without proof
- G: environmentalfactors such as trauma as found by Cromer et al showed OCD to have environmentalorigins as well as genetic disposition
- Diathesis-stress model
- N: unclear which neural mechanisms are involved in OCD
- G: too many candidate genes have been tied to OCD which limits the predictive value
- Strengths
- Evaluating the treatments of OCD
- Drugs are cost effective
- Effective at tackling the symptoms of OCD as proven by Soomro
- More effective than placebo drugs , especially when combined with CBT
- There is unreliable evidence for drug treatments as the data could be biased due to companies not reporting all findings, just favourable ones
- OCD may not have a solely biological origin and therefore drugs would not work on these people
- Drugs can have serious side effects especially for long term use
- Drugs therapies as a biological treatment of OCD
- SSRIs
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor creates a higher level of serotonin in the synapses which reduces the negative emotional effects of OCD
- May be combined with talking therapies like CBT to increase the effectiveness
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor creates a higher level of serotonin in the synapses which reduces the negative emotional effects of OCD
- Alternative medication to SSRIs
- Tricyclics are used when people don’t respond well to SSRI drugs, but they have worse side effects
- SNRIs work on serotonin and another neurotransmitter called noradrenaline . This is a newer drug and works for people that don’t respond to SSRIs
- SSRIs
- Explanations of OCD
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