Obsessive Anxiety Disorder - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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The Biological approach is that OCD can be caused by genetics, biochemistry and neuroanatomy. Twin studies such as Hoaken and Schnurr (1980) found a concordance rate of 50 – 60% suggesting that OCD could be passed done through our genes, however when OCD is found in families they generally inherit the general nature but not the same symptoms suggesting that is it partly genetic and environment thus continuing the nature versus nurture debate, however understanding genetics means some disorders such as phenylalanine can now be identified in babies and vital early treatment can be started.

Biochemical suggests that a deficiency of the neurotransmitter serotonin can cause OCD which is backed up by Zohar and Judge (1996) who found using tricyclic drugs inhibited the re - uptake of serotonin which proved beneficial for 60% of OCD sufferers, although Lydiard et at (1996) found drugs only gave a partial alleviation of symptoms suggesting that medication can help the symptoms but are not a cure. Rapoport et al (1994) reported that surgery which disconnects the basal ganglia from the frontal cortex brought relief in severe cases of OCD.

Drug therapy is popular with doctors as drugs are generally cheap and non-addictive and requires little effort on the patient’s behalf and is supported by empirical evidence, however they can take 4-12 weeks to take effect so patients may stop taking them before they have had a chance to work, as well as symptoms remerging if medication is suddenly stopped. Medication can have severe side effects such as weight gain or tremors etc. Drug therapy is reductionist and ignores other treatments.

Psychosurgery is used to alleviate symptoms in sufferers who do not respond to medication or behavioural therapies Dougherty et at (2002) found that 45% of sufferers showed an improvement after cingulotomy who were unresponsive to medication. However this is generally a last resort due to risks of side effects such as seizures, memory loss and personality changes, there is also ethical issues due to informed consent.

There is no doubt that OCD can have detrimental effects on patients for many years, the different psychological perspectives each give their own definition of OCD and their treatments all equally have their own strengths and limitations. It’s clear to see that as we are unable to pinpoint the exact cause of the disorder it makes it increasingly difficult to be able to treat and cure the disorder. Evidence suggests that effective treatments work with a combination of different approaches such as drug therapy combined with cognitive and behavioural therapy can give sufferers maybe not a cure for the disorder but a reduction of 50 - 80% in symptoms and the chance to regain a normal life as evidenced by Diana’s case study who has made a complete recovery with a combination of therapies (NHS n.d.).