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The Biological Approach to Explaining OCD - Neural Explanation - Coggle…
The Biological Approach to Explaining OCD - Neural Explanation
Some forms of OCD have been linked to breakdowns in the immune system functioning , such as through contracting throat infections , lymes disease and influenza , which would indicate a biological explanation through damage to neural mechanisms . Such onset of the disorder is more often seen in children than adults
PET (positron emission tomography) scans show relatively low levels of serotonin activity in the brains of OCD patients and as drugs that increase serotonin activity have been found to reduce symptoms of OCD , it suggests that the neurotransmitter may be involved with the disorder
PET scans also show that OCD sufferers can have relatively high levels of activity in the orbital frontal cortex , a brain area associated with higher-level thought processes and the conversion of sensory information into thoughts
The brain area is thought to help initiate activity upon receiving impulses to act and then to stop the activity when the impulse lessens
A non sufferer may have an impulse to wash dirt from hands : once this is done the impulse to perform the activity stops and therefore so does the behaviour
It may be that those with OCD have difficulty in switching off or ignoring impulses so that they turn into obsessions , resulting in compulsive behaviour
Pichichero (2009) reported that case studies from the US National Institute of Health showed that children with throat infections often displayed sudden indications of OCD symptoms shortly after becoming infected . Such children also often exhibited symptoms of tourettes syndrome . This supports the idea that such infections may be having an effect on neural mechanisms underpinning OCD
Zohar et al (1987) gave mCPP , a drug that reduces serotonin levels , to 12 OCD patients and 20 non OCD patients , finding that symptoms of OCD were significantly enhanced in the OCD patients . This supports that the sufferers condition was related to abnormal levels of serotonin
Fallon and Nields (1994) reported that 40% of people contracting lymes disease incur neural damage resulting in psychiatric conditions such as OCD . This suggests that the neural explanation can account for the onset of some cases of OCD
Saxena and Rauch (2000) reviewed studies of OCD that used PET , fMRI and MRI neuro imaging techniques to find consistent evidence of an association between the orbital frontal cortex brain area and OCD symptoms. This suggests that specific neural mechanisms are involved with the disorder
Evaluation
It is thought that infections which reduce immune system functioning don't actually cause OCD , but may instead trigger symptoms in those more genetically vulnerable to the disorder . The onset of the disorder generally occurs very quickly after infection , usually within one to two weeks
To what extent abnormal levels of serotonin and activity within the frontal orbital cortex are actual causes of OCD or merely effects of the disorder has not been established
There may well be a genetic connection to neural mechanisms , through such being regulated by genetic factors . An NIMH study examined DNA samples from sufferers and found OCD to be associated with 2 mutations of the human serotonin transporter gene (hSERT) , which led to diminished levels of serotonin
Despite the fact that research indicates there are several neural differences between OCD sufferer and non sufferers , it is still not known how these differences relate to the precise mechanisms of OCD
Not all sufferers of OCD respond positively to serotonin enhancing drugs , which lessens support for abnormal levels of the neurotransmitter being the sole cause of the disorder
