OCD 1. What are the main symptoms and signs of the disorder? 2. What neurobiolog

Question

OCD

1. What are the main symptoms and signs of the disorder?

2. What neurobiological systems are altered in this disorder? These include the brain systems that subserve cognitive control/attention, stress systems, social systems, memory, motor systems, and emotion systems.

3. What are the neuronal and/or genetic findings with this disorder? For instance, what neurotransmitter type and activity is altered in this disorder? What are the findings regarding genetic influence from twin studies and gene studies? Please address at least one neuronal/neurotransmitter system and any major genetic findings.

4. What are the major treatments for this disorder and how does this treatment impact the brain systems and neuronal/genetic functioning you have discussed? Focus on at least one treatment in some depth.

Explanation / Answer

1. Obsessive thoughts in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) include-

Compulsive behaviors in (OCD) are:

2. Neurobiological aspects of OCD: three brain areas are involved with OCD are the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the head of the caudate nucleus.

3. OCD is caused due to slight changes in neurotransmitters such as serotonin.

Twin Studies: Data was obtained from 2801 young-adult Norwegian twins by means of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). It examined the heritability of the following anxiety disorders-

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Panic Disorder

Phobias

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

PostTraumatic Stress Disorder

Study Results:

Valid anxiety data were available for 1385 twin pairs; however there were only 57 pairs where one twin had OCD. As a result, individuals who met criteria or subthreshold OCD were included in the study.The estimate of heritability was 29%. Studies showed that 55% of this heritability was due to a common factor that was shared by all five anxiety disorders and 45% appeared due to factors that that were specific to OCD.

4. Major treatments: It involves psychotherapy (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy or CBT) and medications.

CBT: A variation of CBT called exposure and response prevention is used for OCD. If a person has a compulsion to keep washing his/her hands out of fear of getting contaminated with germs, then the therapist may gradually expose the person to contaminated objects. The subject is prevented from doing his/her usual compulsion (repeated hand washing) to ease anxiety about the contamination.The therapist teaches how to control the anxiety in another way such as through deep breathing techniques.

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