Evaluation

• Research support

  One strength of the neural model of OCD is the existence of some supporting evidence:

  • Antidepressants that work purely on serotonin are effective in reducing OCD symptoms, suggesting that serotonin may be involved in OCD
  • OCD symptoms form part of conditions that are known to be biological in origin, such as Parkinson's disease which causes muscle tremors and paralysis
  • Therefore, biological factors may also be responsible for OCD
• No unique neural system


  One limitation of the neural model is that the serotonin-OCD link may not be unique to OCD:

  • Many people with OCD also experience clinical depression - having two disorders together is called co-morbidity
  • This depression probably involves disruption to the action of serotonin, which means that it could simply be that serotonin activity is disrupted in many people with OCD because they have depression as well
  • Therefore, serotonin may nor be relevant to OCD symptoms