AO3 Evaluations - Biological Explanation of OCD
Genetic Explanations
A strength of the genetic explanations of OCD is that there is good
supporting evidence for it. There is a variety of sources that support the
idea of how some people are vulnerable to OCD as a result of their own
genetic make-up. Twin studies best supports this assumption, as Nestadt
et al. in 2010 reviewed twin studies, and found that 68% of identical twins
shared OCD, whereas 31% of non-identical twins shared OCD. This
therefore strongly supports the fact that there is a genetic influence on
OCD.
A limitation of the genetic explanations of OCD is that there are too many
candidate genes. This means that psychologists have been less
successful at pinning down all the genes that are involved in order to
influence OCD. This is because it appears that several genes are involved
and that each genetic variation only increases the risk of being diagnosed
with OCD by a small amount. This means that the genetic explanation is
unlikely to ever be very useful, as it provides very little predictive value.
Another limitation of the genetic explanations of OCD is that it has
environmental risk factors. These factors can also trigger or increase the
risk of being diagnosed with OCD according to the diathesis-stress model.
For example, Cromer et al in 2007 found that over half of the OCD patients
in their sample had a traumatic event in their past, and that their OCD was
more severe than the ones that do not have more than one trauma in the
past. This suggests that OCD cannot be entirely genetic in origin, at least
not in all cases. It may be far more productive to focus on the
environmental factors, because we are more able to do something about
these.
Neural Explanations
A strength of the neural explanations of OCD is that there is evidence to
support the role of some neural mechanisms in OCD. For example, some
antidepressants work purely on the serotonin system, which increase the
levels of this neurotransmitter. These drugs are effective in reducing OCD
Genetic Explanations
A strength of the genetic explanations of OCD is that there is good
supporting evidence for it. There is a variety of sources that support the
idea of how some people are vulnerable to OCD as a result of their own
genetic make-up. Twin studies best supports this assumption, as Nestadt
et al. in 2010 reviewed twin studies, and found that 68% of identical twins
shared OCD, whereas 31% of non-identical twins shared OCD. This
therefore strongly supports the fact that there is a genetic influence on
OCD.
A limitation of the genetic explanations of OCD is that there are too many
candidate genes. This means that psychologists have been less
successful at pinning down all the genes that are involved in order to
influence OCD. This is because it appears that several genes are involved
and that each genetic variation only increases the risk of being diagnosed
with OCD by a small amount. This means that the genetic explanation is
unlikely to ever be very useful, as it provides very little predictive value.
Another limitation of the genetic explanations of OCD is that it has
environmental risk factors. These factors can also trigger or increase the
risk of being diagnosed with OCD according to the diathesis-stress model.
For example, Cromer et al in 2007 found that over half of the OCD patients
in their sample had a traumatic event in their past, and that their OCD was
more severe than the ones that do not have more than one trauma in the
past. This suggests that OCD cannot be entirely genetic in origin, at least
not in all cases. It may be far more productive to focus on the
environmental factors, because we are more able to do something about
these.
Neural Explanations
A strength of the neural explanations of OCD is that there is evidence to
support the role of some neural mechanisms in OCD. For example, some
antidepressants work purely on the serotonin system, which increase the
levels of this neurotransmitter. These drugs are effective in reducing OCD
