Mid-Project Review

I had another meeting with my supervisor today in order to discuss my findings, as well the next stages of my project.

The successes of my project so far includes that an expert, Dr Rapoport, has agreed to answer a few of my questions via email after reading her book. Also, the table of sources I have produced seems to be very useful too!

My proposed plan for the rest of the project:

I will first finish off the research, most importantly, many sources have claimed that environmental factors are less important than biological factors, however, I haven't found any reliable evidence for this yet.

I will publish another post describing the outline of my project in more detail, but at the moment the simple outline is:

• Introduction - introducing my project and explaining OCD
• Explaining each of the different factors
• Evaluating the evidence I have found in order to determine the significance of each of the different factors
• Conclusion - summarising my project and my findings

A source's reliability is a very important thing to take into account, therefore, when writing my report, I will remember to take this into account.

A Brief Description of The Theories

My research has shown that there are various biological based theories detailing why paediatric OCD develops. These include heightened brain activity in the areas of the frontal lobes and orbital cortex, decreased levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter and increased levels of glutamate, another neurotransmitter. Another interesting theory is that OCD can be triggered by an infection, and is one of the Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infection (PANDAS).

In terms of environmental theories, these seem to be less significant. An environmental factor believed to possible influence the development of  OCD is the style of parenting; certain rituals performed by the parent may be 'picked up' by their child. However, this is not believed to be an important factor since many children with OCD don't have parents expressing similar symptoms.

Psychological factors are also believed by many to be significant. These are the psychodynamic model, the cognitive model and the behavioural model. The cognitive and behavioural models seem, to an extent, to be true due to the success of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

Towards the end of my research...

After initial research, I realised that there were different types of OCD, such as childhood-onset OCD, pre-natal OCD and post-natal OCD. I have therefore decided to modify my question slightly so that I am now investigating the significance of biological factors in the development of OCD in childhood-onset OCD in order to further focus my question.

After emailing many experts in this field, I finally received one reply from Dr Judith Rapoport, a expert in Child Psychiatry. In this reply she replied that she would be happy to answer my questions, however, she advised me to first consult her book, 'The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing'. I have ordered this book, and when I have finished reading it, I will then ask Dr Rapoport if she would be happy to answer a few questions.