Eval of Neural OCD

• Neural explanation of OCD


  • Strong evidence that certain brain circuits are associated with OCD
  • PET scans of patients with OCD show heightened activity in the OFC
  • Unusually high activation within the OFC and excessive activity in the caudate nucleus for patients with OCD
  • Serotonin levels are lower in OCD patients
• Serotonin activity in OCD


  • SSRI's can successfully treat the symptoms of OCD
  • Increasing serotonin levels can actually make OCD symptoms worse
  • Other neurotransmitters like dopamine and glutamate have also been implicated in OCD
• It is unlikely that abnormal levels of serotonin are a sole cause of OCD
• We cannot assume that neural mechanisms cause OCD
• Brain scan studies show an association between increased activity in certain brain areas and OCD, but this doesn't show that those brain areas play a role in causing OCD
• Biological abnormalities could be a consequence of OCD rather than its cause
• SSRI's (antidepressants) do not offer relief to 100% of OCD sufferers
• Psychological explanations offer strong competition to the biological model when explaining OCD
• OCD may be the result of conditioning and the success of CBT suggests there is a cognitive element in the cause of OCD
• A more holistic approach that considers biology, conditioning and cognitions may provide a better explanation for OCD than biology alone