OCD (Psychopathology)

• What is OCD?


  Repetitive behaviour accompanied by obsessive thinking.
• What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?

  Compulsions (repetitive/reduce anxiety), avoidance (avoiding anxiety inducing situations).
• What are the emotional characteristics of OCD?

  Anxiety/distress, accompanying depression, guilt/disgust.
• What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?

  Obsessive thoughts, cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions, insight into excessive anxiety.
• What are the two biological explanations for OCD?

  Genetic + neural.
• What is the genetic explanation for OCD?

  Genes are involved in individual vulnerability for OCD.
• What is the diathesis stress model?

  Suggests that a person may be predisposed for a disorder but must be triggered by environmental factors.
• Which genes create a vulnerability for OCD?

  SERT/COMT.
• What does polygenic mean?

  Multiple genes influence the onset of a disorder.
• What is aetiologically heterogeneous?


  One group of genes may cause OCD in one person but a different group of genes may cause the disorder in another person.
• What is a strength of the genetic explanation for OCD?

  - Twin studies (68% identical/31% non-identical shared OCD)
• What is a limitation of the genetic explanation for OCD?

  - Environmental factors (diathesis stress model = cannot be entirely genetic).
• What is the neural explanation of OCD?

  The genes associated with OCD are likely to affect neurotransmitters (+ serotonin levels).
• What is a strength of the neural explanation for OCD?

  - Real world application (antidepressants that affect serotonin are effective).
• What is a limitation of the neural explanation for OCD?

  - Abnormal functioning of neurotransmitters could be a result of OCD not the cause.
• What are the treatments of OCD?

  - Drug therapy (increase/decrease NT = serotonin levels)

  - CBT is often used alongside drug therapy to reduce symptoms enough to engage with CBT.
• What is a type of drug therapy?

  SSRI's (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors).
• What is a strength of drug therapy?

  - Effective at reducing symptoms (study comparing SSRI to placebo).
• What is a limitation of drug therapy?

  - Side effects.