A Study On Medication Treatment Of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – Summary Of Research Findings

Causal Factors and Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obstructive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder and the disorder gets aggravated due to a collection of the symptoms like obsessive rituals in behaviour, obsessive habits in behaviour and unwanted disturbing thoughts. The thoughts that arise in a person’s mind are centred around that person’s life experiences. Fear that arises on to a person’s mind is due to the uncertainties of the personal situations that the person himself or herself does not want to occur (Bokor & Anderson, 2014).  OCD in particular and the various related issues associated with it served as the base for the and a motivation in this study. The questions that were set out in the assignment 1 will be answered here. The first question raised deals with the various causal factors that are related to the disease of OCD. According to Abramowitz, Taylor and McKay (2009), OCD occurs due to the mixture of several factors like early childhood experiences, faulty thought patterns, biological disposition. The second question deals with the age at which the disease occurs and linkage of the disease with the wide range of the psychological symptoms. The disease is found to occur in the late adolescence and occurs with a wide range of psychological symptoms (Abramowitz, Taylor and McKay, 2009). The third question speaks about the linkages of the symptoms of OCD with the various types of psychological disorders. The Symptoms of OCD are also found to link with the various types of psychological disorders.

A study conducted by Leckman et al. (1997), evaluated the various symptoms of OCD and the results suggest 4 different sets of symptoms dimension and the various symptoms that are identified are that of hoarding, washing and cleanliness, ordering, symmetry, 4checking and obsession. The fourth question emphasizes the type of correlation that exists between the checking compulsion and aggressive obsession. The studies conducted by Leckman et al. (1997), revealed that is a strong correlation between the checking compulsion and the aggressive obsession. It is also important to note that there exists a limitation and the results found in this research was inconsistent with the other types of the studies.  Different types of the correlation showcased that OCD is both a heterogeneous and a multidimensional disorder. The fifth question emphasizes the impact of gender on the various symptoms of OCD. Studies conducted by Leckman et al. (1997) also showed that there is a positive link between gender and the symptoms of OCD. While investigating on the gender and the symptoms of OCD, the author has found that there are a positive correlation and the symptoms of OCD are more prominent in males than in comparison to the females. This finding has also been contrasted by Mathis et al. (2011) in which the gender differences showed the similar kinds of findings.

Overview of Treatment Options for OCD

The male patients have been found to be affected to a greater extent with the early symptoms and these are greater aggressiveness and greater social impairment. The symptoms are profound and prominent among the males than the females. Where within the females, the cleaning symptoms are most commonly found. The study conducted by the Mathis is significant because they have will be beneficial for developing treatment procedures of the OCD patients. The sixth question focuses on categorizing the type of disorder that OCD is and the medications available. According to the studies conducted by Abramowitz, Taylor and McKay (2009), OCD is a heterogeneous disorder and there are many treatment options for the people that are suffering from OCD. The various medications that are available are a combination of CBT and SRRI, medications like D-cycloserine, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). Also, the most common and the effective treatment method is the CBT method for the treatment of OCD. The seventh question emphasizes the treatment methodology of OCD. According to Torp et al. (2015), CBT is the best treatment method and this methodology focuses on the patient recovery by altering the way a patient behaves and thinks. Whereas there is another treatment procedure called the SSRI, and this involves providing the OCD patients with the SSRI medications like Fluosetine and Paraoxetine. These medications are found to be reducing the severity of compulsions and obsessions in the patient. Also, this has be confirmed by Patel and Simpson (2010), and this explains that both the SSRI and CBT are the first line of treatments available for OCD. It has also been found that the patient preferred the combination treatment procedures. Data from the studies also revealed that the complexity of treatment procedures also influenced treatment choices.

H₁– Patients prefer the combination treatments procedures in comparison to the other treatment types.

H₂– The symptoms of OCD are more prominent and profound among the males than in comparison to the females.

The participants selected for the study were both the males and females. The total number of the participants was 60 (male 23 and female 37) and they are segregated into two different groups of active treatment and placebo. The participants are all Australians and are sampled from a hospital X where the participants are receiving treatments.

The questionnaire used in the study is the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale symptom checklist (Y-BOCS Symptom Checklist). The questionnaire has 4 different ranges of severity. 0-7 is marked as subclinical, 8-15 is marked as mild, 16-23 is marked as moderate, 24-31 is marked as severe, and 32-40 is marked as extreme.

The Study: Methodology and Participants

The data were collected from the self-reported questionnaire and the participants were voluntarily asked to sign a written consent. Considering the involvement of the human subjects, the names and the medical data of the participants were not revealed and thus kept confidential. The self-reported questionnaire took almost 45 minutes by the participants to complete and in certain cases, some participants even asked for assistance.

Table 1: Details of the participants in the Active treatment group

• The average age of the entire group- 21.16
• The average score at baseline for the entire group- 52.76
• The average score at treatment end for the entire group – 24.23
• Number of males and females- 60

Table 1 shows a total of 30 participants with 12 males and 18 females, while table 2 shows 11 males and 19 females. Thus, 37 females are present in the study with respect to the 23 males. In the active group, the participants have an average age of 20.83, average baseline score of 53.93, and average treatment score of 11.13. Whereas, in the placebo group the participants have an average age of 21.5, average baseline score of 51.6, and average treatment score of 37.33.

Figure 1: the graph showing the details of the participants in the active treatment group

Figure 2: the graph showing the details of the participants in the placebo group

From the above two charts, the pattern of the data shows that in the active treatment group, there is a huge difference between the end treatment score and baseline scores. Whereas in the placebo group the gap or the difference between the baseline score and end treatment score is less.

The results show that that the participants that received the active treatment in the form of a combination of treatment procedures showed the much less end treatment scores. The average scores of the end treatment scores are calculated to be 11.13 which according to the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale symptom checklist shows a mild condition of OCD. Whereas, the participants that received the placebo treatment with only a single treatment process showed high-end treatment scores. The average scores of the end treatment scores are calculated to be 37.33 which according to the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale symptom checklist shows an extreme condition of OCD. Thus, this satisfies the first hypothesis which stated that Patients prefer the combination treatments procedures in comparison to the other treatment types. Considering the placebo group, the females are found to be showing extreme conditions of OCD with the scores as high as 40. While this founding contradicts with the second hypothesis which states that the symptoms of OCD are more prominent and profound among the males than in comparison to the females. According to the previous acquaintances with the literature, the first hypothesis showed a positive correlation with the findings of Patel and Simpson (2010). While the second hypothesis cannot be established with the study and thus it contradicts the findings of Mathis et al. (2011).

The major limitations of the study are that the number of participants is just 60 and this number is very less considering the requirements of a larger number of samples. A larger number of samples are required to establish a strong base of a scientific finding and subsequent generalizations. At the same time, an equal number of males and females is necessary to analyse the effect of gender on OCD. The use of a combination of treatment procedures is actually beneficial compared to the usage of a single type of treatment procedure. This can be considered as one of the major implication of the findings.  

Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that OCD is an anxiety disorder and it aggravates due to a range of symptoms. It has been found that the males are generally more affected than the females. While the treatment procedures are few, combinations of the treatment procedures can be beneficial for the patients that are suffering from OCD. Although, the future research can emphasis on the psychological and the biological aspects of OCD and how they clubbed together for the effective treatment procedures.

Reference

Abramowitz, J. S., Taylor, S., & McKay, D. (2009). Obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Lancet, 374(9688), 491-499.

Bokor, G., & Anderson, P. D. (2014). Obsessive–compulsive disorder. Journal of pharmacy practice, 27(2), 116-130.

Leckman, J. F., Grice, D. E., Boardman, J., Zhang, H., Vitale, A., Bondi, C., … & Goodman, W. K. (1997). Symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154(7), 911-917.

Mathis, M. A. D., Alvarenga, P. D., Funaro, G., Torresan, R. C., Moraes, I., Torres, A. R., … & Hounie, A. G. (2011). Gender differences in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a literature review. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 33(4), 390-399.

Patel, S. R., & Simpson, H. B. (2010). Patient Preferences for OCD treatment. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71(11), 1434–1439. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.09m05537blu

Torp, N. C., Dahl, K., Skarphedinsson, G., Thomsen, P. H., Valderhaug, R., Weidle, B., … & Wentzel-Larsen, T. (2015). Effectiveness of cognitive behavior treatment for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: Acute outcomes from the Nordic Long-term OCD Treatment Study (NordLOTS). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 64, 15-23

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