Evaluation:

There is evidence that some people are vulnerable to OCD as a result of their genetic make-up. One of the best sources of evidence for the importance of genes is twin studies. Nesradt et al. reviewed previous twin studies and found that 68% of identical twins shared OCD as opposed to 31% of non-identical twins. This strongly suggests a genetic influence on OCD
Although twin studies strongly suggest that OCD is largely under genetic control, psychologists have been less successful at pinning down all the genes involved. One reason for this is because it appears tht several genes are involved and that each genetic variation only increases the risk of OCD by a fraction. The consequence is that a genetic explanation is unlikely to ever be very useful because it provides little predictive value
Environmental factors can also trigger/influence the risk of developing OCD (the diathesis stress model) e.g. Cromer et al. found that over half the OCD patients in their sample had a traumatic event in their past and that OCD was more severe in those with more than one trauma. This suggests that OCD cannot be entirely genetic in origin at least not in all cases. It may be more productive to focus on the environmental causes because we are more able to do something about these

	Created by Caitlyn Grayston over 7 years ago

AS level Psychology (Psychopathology) Note on Biological Approach to Explaining OCD, created by Caitlyn Grayston on 21/05/2017.