Biological Theories: Brain Activity

ABNORMAL BRAIN ACTIVITY:

When writing my report, one of the first theories of the cause of OCD I wrote about is abnormal brain activity.

Source

This diagram shows the different lobes of the brain. Scientists have revealed that patients with OCD can have hyperactivity in the orbital frontal cortex, found in the frontal love, and the anterior cingulate cortex.

Both these regions are believed to be responsible for personality and behaviour, therefore, it makes sense to infer that an abnormality in these regions leads to a problem with the patient's personality or behaviour, consequently leading to the expression of the symptoms of OCD.

Dr Rapoport's answers!

After receiving my email, Dr Rapoport responded quickly to my questions. Through this, I have learnt more about the similarities and differences between childhood onset OCD and adult OCD.

Firstly, Dr Rapoport has found that symptoms for both are very similar, although children can have more motor rituals, for example specific movements with their hands, than obsessions. Also, children have a similar reaction, generally, to CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), however, parents may also have to help during CBT.

In addition to this, the doctor replied that she believes environmental factors aren't likely to cause OCD. However, in response to a traumatic event, for example a break in, people can sometimes develop a single compulsion, such as checking the locks.

I will use Dr Rapoport's replies in my report where suitable in order to support different ideas, along with examples from her book.

Questions for Dr Judith Rapoport

In order to support my project, I have emailed Dr Judith Rapoport a few questions. I have asked her what she thinks the main differences are between OCD in adults and children.
Also, I have asked her if she believes that parenting style or stress (environmental factors) could be the cause of OCD.
I have asked her if it could be possible for her to explain how antibodies to Group A beta haemolytic streptococcus could lead to the development of OCD.
Lastly, I asked her which factors she thinks are most significant in the development of OCD.

Hopefully she will be able to answer some of my questions and will reply as soon as possible!

The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing

I have just finished reading this book, and I have found its content extremely useful.

Dr Rapoport presented many fascinating cases, such as a lady who had compulsions to sprinkle her entire flat in sugar. Many of the cases were extremely bizarre, however, they also highlighted to me the variable nature of the symptoms expressed from those with OCD. Furthermore, this book emphasised that the public view on OCD as being a disorder simple about 'neatness' is completely false.

I have also emailed Dr Rapoport asking whether she would still be free to answer a few of my questions via email. Hopefully, she will agree to answering some questions so I intend to write these questions within the next few days. The questions will be primarily based on childhood OCD and the differences present between adult and paediatric OCD. Furthermore, I will ask Dr Rapoport her views on the theories that currently exist to explain the cause of paediatric OCD.

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.