OCD THROUGH A COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE
Obsessive compulsive disorder is a term that is often
misinterpreted by most of us. The reason for this is the lack of understanding of
the disorder. There has been multiple
studies around the globe on and about the different aspects and models of this
disorder. According to many cognitive theorists, individuals with OCD have
faulty beliefs and the misinterpretation of these intrusive thoughts that lead
to OCD.
SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS
OCDs are
generally associated with cognitive dysfunction. Studies (from cognitive perspective)
have found that people with OCD are significantly impaired
in tasks that measured visuospatial memory, executive function, verbal memory
and verbal fluency, whereas auditory attention was preserved in these
individuals. The largest effect size was found in the ability to recall complex
visual stimuli.
For People with OCDs, their thoughts are very persistent and
have rigid routines and behaviours, and their inability to perform these causes
great distress. There are two kinds people diagnosed with OCD, one group of
people understand that their thoughts and obsessions are not true while the
other group fails to do so. Even if the person has the understanding that their
thoughts are not true, they have a hard time distracting themselves from these
thoughts and obsessions or stopping their compulsive actions.
A diagnosis for an OCD requires the presence of and obsession and/
or a compulsion that are time consuming, causes major distress and impair the
quality of work or other important daily functions.
CAUSES
According to the cognitive model of OCD, every individual experience
intrusive thought from time to time. But
for people with OCD, these thoughts have an overstated responsibility and they misunderstand
these thoughts as being very important and significant which could lead to catastrophic
consequences if not fulfilled. These misinterpreted thoughts gradually lead to
obsessions. Often these obsessions are very distressing, that individual take
on compulsive behaviours to block or neutralize these obsessions.
When one talks about OCDs they usually refer to the behavioural
quirks they see in a person. The Cognitive- Behavioural theory focuses on the
meaning attributed to internal or external events. The theory begins with an identical proposition that obsessional thinking has its
origins in normal intrusive cognitions. On the other hand, the cognitive theory,
the focus is on the difference between normal intrusive cognitions and
obsessional intrusive cognitions, and that it lies not in the occurrence or
even the (un)controllability of the intrusions themselves, but rather in the
interpretation made by people with OCD about the occurrence and/or content of
the intrusions.
The emotions and cognitions of a person is considered harmful
when either their occurrence or content are interpreted as being personally
meaningful and threatening, and it is this interpretation which mediates the
distress caused. According to the cognitive models, researches have hypothesised
that OCD causations can also be due to the interpretation on intrusive
cognitions as an indication that the individual might be, might have been, or might
come to be, responsible for harm or its prevention.
The cognitive model for OCD also helps us understand that the
interpretation of an intrusive thought can result in numerous voluntary and
involuntary reactions, which in turn can affect the strength of the original interpretation
of the belief. Therefore, it can be said that negative appraisals can therefore
act as both causal and maintenance agents in OCD.
TREATMENT
For a person who has OCD, the cognitive therapy helps us understand
that the brain is sending error messages. The therapy emphasises on the meanings
that one attach to certain events and experiences that one might tend to
misinterpret. The Cognitive therapy enables one to differentiate between the
thoughts by helping us understanding the situation more realistically. For instance,
if a friend passes you without acknowledgment, you
might interpret her action incorrectly and think “Mary doesn’t like me because
she did not say hello.” And you might believe your thought is very important or
meaningful.
The negative thoughts are the
primary focus of cognitive therapy for OCD. While most of the people don’t pay
attention to such thoughts, some feel that these thoughts are very important
and this makes them react differently instead of just forgetting it. According
to research, believing that negative thoughts and obsessions are important and attempting
not to have a “bad” thought produces the opposite effect.
PREVENTION
OCD is that one disorder that
cannot be prevented. The inability to prevent it does not mean that the
severity of it cannot be reduced. With proper medications and therapies a
person with OCD can live normally with reduced ticks and quirks helping them
function nearly as normally as any other person.
RECENT
RESEARCH AND FINDINGS
Not just thinking, but believing: Obsessive
beliefs and domains of cognitive fusion in the prediction of OCD symptom
dimensions: Findings indicate that the efficacy of
therapeutic techniques derived from cognitive–behavioural (CBT) and acceptance
and commitment therapy (ACT) may differ across symptom dimensions, given
observed differences in mechanisms across OCD subtypes.
Does cognitive-behavioural therapy affect
goal-directed planning in obsessive-compulsive disorder?: According
to the research,
• OCD symptoms
significantly improved following CBT.
• Model-based
planning performance was unaffected by treatment.
• Deficits in
goal-directed planning may be a stable vulnerability factor for OCD.
REFERENCE
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4866747/
https://www.ocduk.org/ocd/how-common-is-ocd/
Research:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165178118315221
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cpp.2409
Just like every abnormal psychology perspective, the cognitive approach too has criticisms. One of the key strengths of this approach is that it focuses on using reliable and controlled lab experiments that produce objective data that can be used for practical applications. Eg: prevalence of visuospatial data over auditory data based on cognitive theories. This approach shows a shift to study of the mind and information processing. The perspective delves deeper into understanding the patient’s cognitive dysfunction and their thoughts. Thus, this approach provides rational evidence based on cause and effect leading to newer findings.
ReplyDeleteBut a major weakness is that experimenters cannot directly observe the cognitive processes rather relies on inference of the patient’s reaction or the situation. It ignores other factors that could have affected the behavior causing the approach to be reductionist in nature. Eg: no ecological validity as most experiments are conducted indoors/ in an unnatural environment. It is helpful in understanding OCD behavior as they often stem from abnormal cognitive activity. This approach provides no particular method of prevention as most claims are cognitive prejudices than deficiencies. But recent findings show an increase in cognitive therapeutic techniques.
Studies have observed that individuals suffering from OCD are significantly impaired in responsibilities that measured visuo-spatial memory, decision-making, verbal reminiscence and verbal fluency. The largest effect size was observed in the capacity to recall complex visual stimuli. OCD is that one ailment that can not be prevented. The lack of ability to save you it does now not imply that the severity of it can not be decreased. With proper medications and therapies a person with OCD can live normally with decreased risks, supporting their characteristics nearly as the same as any other person.
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered if OCD can be caused due to wrong information encoded by the brain? Is it possible for a person to encoded information that can induce OCD? Can disfuncional beliefs be encoded as information at a young age?
ReplyDeleteThere is evidence that cognitive models of OCD include cognitive methods that are useful to some extent in reducing the severity of obsessions and compulsions. Cognitive interventions appear to have lesser treatment drop out than Exposure Response Prevention(ERP). However, significant evidence suggests that cognitive interventions no longer improve treatment efficacy.When compared to ERP treatment alone, the cognitive interventions(either alone or combined with ERP) prove to be ineffective. A significant research has to be done to assess if Cognitive Therapy or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is more effective than ERP. Many people with OCD might not have high scores on OCD-related dysfunctional beliefs, due to which ERP becomes the preferred choice of treatment.
ReplyDeleteOne of the major reasons a cognitive approach to study any mental illness is highly sought upon is its emphasis on using accurate and regulated laboratory experiments which reliable data, that can be used for further applications when trying to come up with a treatment. The insight deepens the understanding of such illnesses with the help of facts and clear proof focused on cause and effect relationship. Although the results can be questioned at times since the behaviour was observed in an artificial setting which could actually alter the true behaviour. There can be other factors affecting the results other than the variable being studied. And so, at times one may never know the actual cause of the effect produced. But further research is being done on the subject to overcome such issues which will definitely be helpful in understanding mental illnesses like OCD and human psychology itself!
ReplyDeleteDamn that was a lot of new info.. amazing work🔥
ReplyDelete