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. Characteristics of OCD Simplified Revision Notes for A-Level OCR Psychology
Revision notes with simplified explanations to understand . Characteristics of OCD quickly and effectively.
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4.4.1. Characteristics of OCD
OCD:
Behavioural
- Avoidance behaviour
- Compulsions (repetitive and intrusive thoughts focused around the stimulus which reduce anxiety through being a method of acting upon obsessive thoughts)
Emotional
- Anxiety
- Distress
- Embarrassment
- Shame
Cognitive
- Acknowledgement that their anxiety is excessive and irrational
- The development of cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions
Neural explanation
People with OCD have impaired communication between the basal ganglia and the orbitofrontal cortex (OBF)
There are 2 neural explanations:
1. Brain structures
-
Obsessions: People with ocd have a hyperactive OBF, which continues to detect worrying stimuli in the environment, even when no real threat is present, causing obsessions.
-
Compulsions: In people with OCD, the basal ganglia sends much weaker signals to the OBF, causing the OBF to determine that an action needs to be completed, causing compulsions.
2. Serotonin
People with OCD have less serotonin release. As serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, less serotonin release = hyperactive OBF, which is associated with OCD symptoms, such as obsessions (as written above)
Evaluation for the neural explanation:
P: There is supporting evidence
E: For instance, antidepressants that work purely on increasing serotonin levels have been effective at reducing OCD symptoms
E: This supports the idea that serotonin plays a role in the development of OCD, therefore strengthening the neural explanation
P: However, there are issues of causation
E: For example, research has found that other areas of the brain can also be implicated in OCD. This means that no singular brain system has been consistently found to play a role.
E: Therefore it could be that changes in the brain are a result of OCD, rather than changes in the brain causing OCD in the first place. As a result, it musn't be concluded that there is a cause and effect relationship, weakening the explanation
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