Abnormal Psychology, 18th Ed (Jim M. Hooley, Matthew K. Nock etc.) (z-lib.org)

214 Chapter 6
NEUROBIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ANXIETY
AND PANIC As we noted at the beginning of this chapter,
contemporary theorists are drawing several fundamental
distinctions between fear, panic, and anxiety, including their
neurobiological bases. Fear and panic involve activation of
the fight-or-flight response, and the brain areas and neurotransmitters that seem most strongly implicated in these
emotional responses are the amygdala (and locus coeruleus)
and the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin.
Generalized anxiety (or anxious apprehension) is a more diffuse emotional state than acute fear or phobia that involves
arousal and a preparation for possible impending threat;
and the brain area, neurotransmitters, and hormones that
seem most strongly implicated are the limbic system (especially the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, an extension of
the amygdala), GABA, and CRH (Davis, 2006; Lang et al.,
2000). Although serotonin may play a role in both anxiety
and panic, it probably does so in somewhat different ways.
Recently, people with GAD have been found to have a
smaller left hippocampal region similar to what is seen with
major depression (Hettema et al., 2012); this may represent a
common risk factor for the two disorders.
Treatments
As noted earlier, most treatment for GAD involves cognitive-behavioral or medicinal approaches.
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT CBT for gener-
alized anxiety disorder has become increasingly effective as
clinical researchers have refined the techniques used. It usually involves a combination of behavioral techniques, such as
training in applied muscle relaxation, and cognitive restructuring techniques aimed at reducing distorted cognitions
and information-processing biases associated with GAD as
well as reducing catastrophizing about minor events (Barlow
et al., 2007; Borkovec, 2006). GAD initially appeared to be
among the most difficult of the anxiety disorders to treat, and
to some extent this is still true. However, advances have been
made, and a quantitative review of many controlled studies
showed that CBT approaches resulted in large changes on
most symptoms measured (Mitte, 2005). The magnitude of
the changes seen with cognitive-behavioral treatment was at
least as large as those seen with benzodiazepines, and it led
to fewer dropouts (i.e., it was better tolerated). Finally, CBT
has also been found to be useful in helping people who have
used benzodiazepines for over a year to successfully taper
their medications (Gosselin et al., 2006).
CBT for Rodney’s GAD
The case of Rodney, the graduate student with GAD discussed earlier, serves as an example of the success of cognitive-behavioral
therapy with this condition. Before receiving CBT, Rodney had seen
someone at a student counseling center for several months, but he
hadn’t found the “talk therapy” very useful. He had heard that CBT
might be useful and had sought such treatment. He was in treatment for about 6 months, during which time he found training in
deep muscle relaxation helpful in reducing his overall level of tension.
Cognitive restructuring helped reduce his worry levels about all
spheres of his life. He still had problems with procrastinating when
he had deadlines, but this too was improving. He also began socializing more frequently and had tentatively begun dating when treatment ended for financial reasons. He could now see that if a woman
didn’t want to go out with him again, this did not mean that he was
boring but simply that they might not be a good match.
MEDICATIONS Many clients with generalized anxiety
disorder consult family physicians, seeking relief from
their “nerves” or anxieties or their various functional (psychogenic) physical problems. Most often in such cases,
medications from the benzodiazepine (anxiolytic) category
such as Xanax or Klonopin are used—and misused—for
tension relief, reduction of other somatic symptoms, and
relaxation. Their effects on worry and other psychological
symptoms are not as great. Moreover, they can create physiological and psychological dependence and withdrawal
and are therefore difficult to taper. A newer medication
called buspirone (from a different medication category) is
also effective, and it is neither sedating nor does it lead to
physiological dependence. It also has greater effects on
psychic anxiety than do the benzodiazepines. However, it
may take 2 to 4 weeks to show results (Roy-Byrne &
Cowley, 2002, 2007). Several categories of antidepressant
medications like those used in the treatment of panic disorder are also useful in the treatment of GAD, and they also
seem to have a greater effect on the psychological symptoms of GAD than do the benzodiazepines (Goodman,
2004; Roy-Byrne & Cowley, 2002, 2007). However, they
take several weeks before their effects are apparent.
Obsessive-Compulsive
and Related Disorders
6.7
Describe the clinical features of obsessivecompulsive disorder and how it is treated.
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders used to be classified in the DSM as anxiety disorders; however, as of DSM-5
they have been classified separately as their own type of disorder (see the Thinking Critically about DSM-5 box). This new category includes not only OCD but also body dysmorphic
disorder, hoarding disorder, excoriation (skin-picking) disorder, and trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling).
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is defined by the occurrence of both obsessive thoughts and compulsive
behaviors performed in an attempt to neutralize such
thoughts (see the DSM-5 box for diagnostic criteria).
Panic, Anxiety, Obsessions, and Their Disorders
DSM-5
215
Thinking Critically about DSM-5
Why Is OCD No Longer Considered to Be an Anxiety Disorder?
In DSM-5, obsessive-compulsive disorder was removed from the
Yet another reason is that the neurobiological underpinnings
anxiety disorders category and placed into a new category called
of OCD appear to be rather different from those of other anxiety
“obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.” (As you already
disorders, focusing on frontal-striatal neural circuitry including the
know from Chapter 5, PTSD was also removed and put into a
orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and striatum (espe-
new category called “trauma and stressor-related disorders.”)
cially the caudate nucleus). Studies examining the “OCD-related
One reason for moving OCD into the new category was that
disorders” such as body dysmorphic disorder (obsessing about
anxiety is not generally used as an indicator of OCD severity.
perceived or imagined flaws in physical appearance) and trichotil-
Indeed, for people with certain forms of OCD such as symmetry-
lomania (chronic hair pulling) also suggest shared involvement of
related obsessions and compulsions, anxiety is not even a prom-
frontal-striatal neural circuitry. Finally, other anxiety disorders
inent symptom. It was also noted that anxiety occurs in a wide
respond to a wider range of medication treatments than does
range of disorders, so the presence of some anxiety is not a valid
OCD, which seems to respond selectively to SSRIs.
reason to regard OCD as an anxiety disorder. Indeed D. J. Stein
How compelling do these reasons sound to you? What kinds
et al. (2010) wrote that “the highly stereotyped, driven, repetitive,
of research findings might further support the grouping of OCD
and nonfunctional quality of compulsive behaviors differentiate
with related disorders such as hoarding or trichotillomania? On the
OCD from normal acts and from the types of avoidance that
contrary, what research findings might incline you to think that it
occur in other anxiety disorders” (p. 497).
was wrong to remove OCD from the anxiety disorders category?
Obsessions are persistent and recurrent intrusive
thoughts, images, or impulses that are experienced as disturbing, inappropriate, and uncontrollable. People who
DSM-5
have such obsessions actively try to resist or suppress
them or to neutralize them with some other thought or
action. Compulsions involve overt repetitive behaviors
Criteria for. . .
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
A. Presence of obsessions, compulsions, or both: Obsessions
are defined by (1) and (2):
1. Recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges, or images that
are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as
intrusive and unwanted, and that in most individuals
cause marked anxiety or distress.
2. The individual attempts to ignore or suppress such
thoughts, urges, or images, or to neutralize them with
some other thought or action (i.e., by performing a compulsion).
Compulsions are defined by (1) and (2):
1. Repetitive behaviors (e.g., hand washing, ordering,
checking) or mental acts (e.g., praying, counting, repeating words silently) that the individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession or according to rules
that must be applied rigidly.
2. The behaviors or mental acts are aimed at preventing or
reducing anxiety or distress, or preventing some dreaded
event or situation; however, these behaviors or mental
acts are not connected in a realistic way with what they
are designed to neutralize or prevent, or are clearly
excessive.
Note: Young children may not be able to articulate the aims of
these behaviors or mental acts.
B. The obsessions or compulsions are time-consuming (e.g.,
take more than 1 hour per day) or cause clinically significant
distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
C. The obsessive-compulsive symptoms are not attributable to
the physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse,
a medication) or another medical condition.
D. The disturbance is not better explained by the symptoms of
another mental disorder (e.g., excessive worries, as in generalized anxiety disorder; preoccupation with appearance, as in
body dysmorphic disorder; difficulty discarding or parting with
possessions, as in hoarding disorder; hair pulling, as in trichotillomania [hair-pulling disorder]; skin picking, as in excoriation
[skin-picking] disorder; stereotypies, as in stereotypic movement
disorder; ritualized eating behavior, as in eating disorders; preoccupation with substances or gambling, as in substance-related
and addictive disorders; preoccupation with having an illness, as
in illness anxiety disorder; sexual urges or fantasies, as in paraphilic disorders; impulses, as in disruptive, impulse-control, and
conduct disorders; guilty ruminations, as in major depressive
disorder; thought insertion or delusional preoccupations, as in
schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders; or repetitive patterns of behavior, as in autism spectrum disorder).
Source: Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, (Copyright 2013). American Psychiatric Association.
216 Chapter 6
Werner Muenzker/Shutterstock
that are performed as lengthy rituals (such as hand
washing, checking, putting things in order over and over
again). Compulsions may also involve more covert mental
rituals (such as counting, praying, or saying certain words
silently over and over again). A person with OCD usually
feels driven to perform this compulsive, ritualistic behavior in response to an obsession, and there are often very
rigid rules regarding exactly how the compulsive behavior should be performed. The compulsive behaviors are
performed with the goal of preventing or reducing
distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation.
OCD is often one of the most disabling mental disorders
in that it leads to a lower quality of life and a great deal of
functional impairment (Stein et al., 2009).
In addition, the person must recognize that the obsession is the product of his or her own mind rather than
being imposed from without (as might occur in schizophrenia). However, there is a continuum of “insight”
among persons with OCD about exactly how senseless
and excessive their obsessions and compulsions are (Ruscio et al., 2010). In a minority of cases, this insight is absent
most of the time. Most of us have experienced minor
obsessive thoughts, such as whether we remembered to
lock the door or turn the stove off. In addition, most of us
occasionally engage in repetitive or stereotyped behavior,
such as checking the stove or the lock on the door or stepping over cracks on a sidewalk. One recent study found
that more than 25 percent of people in the United States
report experiencing obsessions or compulsions at some
time in their lives (Ruscio et al., 2010). With OCD, however, the thoughts are excessive and much more persistent
and distressing, and the associated compulsive acts interfere with everyday activities. Diagnosis requires that
obsessions and compulsions take at least 1 hour per day,
and in severe cases they may take most of the person’s
waking hours. It is important to note that normal and
abnormal obsessions and compulsive behaviors exist on a
continuum, differing in the frequency and intensity of the
obsessions and in the degrees to which the obsessions and
compulsions are resisted and are troubling (Steketee &
Barlow, 2002).
The common themes of OCD typically involve cleaning, symmetry,
taboo thoughts, and harm.
Many obsessive thoughts involve contamination fears,
fears of harming oneself or others, and pathological doubt.
Other fairly common themes are concerns about or need
for symmetry (e.g., having magazines on a table arranged
in a way that is “exactly right”), sexual obsessions, and
obsessions concerning religion or aggression. These themes
are quite consistent cross-culturally and across the life span
(Steketee & Barlow, 2002). Obsessive thoughts involving
themes of violence or aggression might include a wife
being obsessed with the idea that she might poison her
husband or child, or a daughter constantly imagining
pushing her mother down a flight of stairs. Even though
such obsessive thoughts are very rarely acted on, they
remain a source of often excruciating torment to a person
plagued with them. The following case of Mark is fairly
typical of severe OCD.
Obsessions about Confessing and Compulsive
Checking
Mark was a 28-year-old single male who, at the time he entered
treatment, suffered from severe obsessive thoughts and images
about causing harm to others such as running over pedestrians
while he was driving. He also had severe obsessions that he
would commit a crime such as robbing a store of a large amount
of money or poisoning family members or friends. These obsessions were accompanied by lengthy and excessive checking rituals. For example, one day when he drove, he began obsessing
that he had caused an accident and hit a pedestrian at an intersection, and he felt compelled to spend several hours driving and
walking around all parts of that intersection to find evidence of the
accident.
At the time Mark went to an anxiety disorder clinic, he was no
longer able to live by himself after having lived alone for several
years since college. He was a very bright young man with considerable artistic talent. He had finished college at a prestigious
school for the arts and had launched a successful career as a
young artist when the obsessions began in his early 20s. At first,
they were focused on the possibility that he would be implicated
in some crime that he had not committed; later, they evolved to
the point where he was afraid that he might actually commit a
crime and confess to it. The checking rituals and avoidance of all
places where such confessions might occur eventually led to his
having to give up his career and his own apartment and move
back in with his family.
At the time he presented for treatment, Mark’s obsessions
about harming others and confessing to crimes (whether or not he
had committed them) were so severe that he had virtually confined
himself to his room at his parents’ house. Indeed, he could leave his
room only if he had a tape recorder with him so that he would have
a record of any crimes he confessed to out loud because he did not
trust his own memory. The clinic was several hours’ drive from his
home; his mother usually had to drive because of his obsessions
about causing accidents with pedestrians or moving vehicles and
because the associated checking rituals could punctuate any trip
with several very long stops. He also could not speak at all on the
phone for fear of confessing some crime that he had (or had not)
Panic, Anxiety, Obsessions, and Their Disorders
committed, and he could not mail a letter for the same reason. He
also could not go into a store alone or into public bathrooms, where
he feared he might write a confession on the wall and be caught
and punished.
performance of the compulsive act or the ritualized series
of acts usually brings a feeling of reduced tension and satisfaction, as well as a sense of control, although this anxiety
relief is typically fleeting. This is why the same rituals need
to be repeated over and over (Purdon, 2009; Steketee &
Barlow, 2002).
As we have noted, people with OCD feel compelled to
perform acts repeatedly that often seem pointless and
absurd even to them and that they in some sense do not
want to perform. There are five primary types of compulsive rituals: cleaning (hand washing and showering),
checking, repeating, ordering or arranging, and counting
(Antony et al., 1998; Mathews, 2009), and many people
exhibit multiple kinds of rituals. For a smaller number of
people, the compulsions are to perform various everyday
acts (such as eating or dressing) extremely slowly (primary
obsessional slowness), and for others the compulsions are
to have things exactly symmetrical or “evened up”
(Mathews, 2009; Steketee & Barlow, 2002).
Prevalence, Age of Onset,
and Gender Differences
Washing or cleaning rituals vary from relatively mild
ritual-like behavior such as spending 15 to 20 minutes
washing one’s hands after going to the bathroom, to more
extreme behavior such as washing one’s hands with disinfectants for hours every day to the point where the hands
bleed. Checking rituals also vary in severity from relatively
mild (such as checking all the lights, appliances, and locks
two or three times before leaving the house) to very
extreme (such as going back to an intersection where one
thinks one may have run over a pedestrian and spending
hours checking for any sign of the imagined accident,
much as Mark does in the case study). Both cleaning and
checking rituals are often performed a specific number of
times and thus also involve repetitive counting. The
Desiree Navarro/Everett Collection/Alamy
Approximately 2 to 3 percent of people meet criteria for
OCD at some point in their lifetime, and approximately 1
percent meet criteria in a given year (Ruscio et al., 2010).
Over 90 percent of treatment-seeking people with OCD
experience both obsessions and compulsions (Foa &
Kozak, 1995; Franklin & Foa, 2007). When mental rituals
and compulsions such as counting are included as compulsive behaviors, this figure jumps to 98 percent.
Voronin76/Shutterstock
Many of us show some compulsive behavior, but people with OCD
feel compelled to perform repeatedly some action in response to an
obsession, in order to reduce the anxiety or discomfort created by the
obsession. Although the person may realize that the behavior is
excessive or unreasonable, he or she does not feel able to control the
urge. Obsessive-compulsive hand washers may spend hours a day
washing and may even use abrasive cleansers to the point that their
hands bleed.
217
Howard Stern, a famous radio personality and author, as with other
people who have suffered from OCD, found relief in a compulsive
act or ritualized series of acts to bring about a feeling of reduced
tension and a sense of control. In his book Miss America, Stern
describes behaviors such as turning pages in magazines only with his
pinky finger, walking through doors with the right side of his body
leading, and flipping through television stations in a particular order
before turning the set off.
Divorced (or separated) and unemployed people are
somewhat overrepresented among people with OCD
(Torres et al., 2006), which is not surprising given the great
difficulties this disorder creates for interpersonal and occupational functioning. Some studies showed little or no gender difference in adults, which would make OCD quite
different from most of the rest of the anxiety disorders.
However, one British epidemiological study found a
gender ratio of 1.4 to 1 (women to men; Torres et al.,
2006). OCD typically begins in late adolescence or early
218 Chapter 6
adulthood, but also can occur in children, where its
symptoms are strikingly similar to those of adults (Poulton
et al., 2009; Torres et al., 2006). Childhood or early adolescent onset is more common in boys than in girls and is
often associated with greater severity (Lomax et al., 2009)
and greater heritability (Grisham et al., 2008). In most cases
the disorder has a gradual onset, and once it becomes a
serious condition, it tends to be chronic, although the
severity of symptoms sometimes waxes and wanes over
time (Mataix-Cols et al., 2002).
Comorbidity with Other Disorders
OCD frequently co-occurs with other anxiety disorders,
most commonly social anxiety, panic disorder, GAD, and
PTSD (Kessler, Chiu, Demler, et al., 2005; Mathews, 2009).
Moreover, approximately 25 to 50 percent of people with
OCD experience major depression at some time in their
lives and as many as 80 percent experience significant
depressive symptoms (Steketee & Barlow, 2002; Torres et
al., 2006), often at least partly in response to having OCD.
Psychological Causal Factors
The following psychological factors may cause obsessivecompulsive disorder.
The dominant behavioral or learning view of obsessive-compulsive disorder is
derived from Mowrer’s two-process theory of avoidance
learning (1947). According to this theory, neutral stimuli
become associated with frightening thoughts or experiences through classical conditioning and come to elicit
anxiety. For example, touching a doorknob or shaking
hands might become associated with the “scary” idea of
contamination. Once having made this association, the
person may discover that the anxiety produced by shaking
hands or touching a doorknob can be reduced by hand
washing. Washing his or her hands extensively reduces the
anxiety, and so the washing response is reinforced, which
makes it more likely to occur again in the future when
other situations evoke anxiety about contamination (Rachman & Shafran, 1998). Once learned, such avoidance
responses are extremely resistant to extinction (Mineka &
Zinbarg, 2006). Moreover, any stressors that raise anxiety
levels can lead to a heightened frequency of avoidance
responses in animals or compulsive rituals in humans
(Cromer et al., 2007).
Several classic experiments conducted by Rachman
and Hodgson (1980) supported this theory. They found
that for most people with OCD, exposure to a situation that
provoked their obsession (e.g., a doorknob or toilet seat for
someone with obsessions about contamination) did indeed
produce distress, which would continue for a moderate
amount of time and then gradually dissipate. If the person
OCD AS LEARNED BEHAVIOR
was allowed to engage in the compulsive ritual immediately after the provocation, however, her or his anxiety
would generally decrease rapidly (although only temporarily) and therefore reinforce the compulsive ritual.
This model predicts, then, that exposure to feared
objects or situations should be useful in treating OCD if the
exposure is followed by prevention of the ritual, enabling
the person to see that the anxiety will subside naturally in
time without the ritual (see also Rachman & Shafran, 1998).
This is indeed the core of the most effective form of behavior therapy for OCD, as discussed later. Thus, the early
behavioral model has been very useful in helping us
understand what factors maintain obsessive-compulsive
behavior, and it has also generated an effective form of
treatment. However, it has not been so helpful in explaining why people with OCD develop obsessions in the first
place and why some people never develop compulsive
behaviors.
OCD AND PREPAREDNESS The preparedness concept
described earlier that considers the evolutionarily adaptive
nature of fear and anxiety for our early ancestors also can
help us to understand the occurrence and persistence of
OCD (De Silva, Rachman, & Seligman, 1977; Rapoport,
1989). The fact that many people with OCD have obsessions and compulsions focused on dirt, contamination, and
other potentially dangerous situations has led many
researchers to conclude that these features of the disorder
likely have deep evolutionary roots (Mineka & Zinbarg,
1996, 2006). In addition, some theorists have argued that
the displacement activities that many species of animals
engage in under situations of conflict or high arousal
resemble the compulsive rituals seen in obsessivecompulsive disorder (Craske, 1999; Mineka & Zinbarg,
1996; Rapoport, 1989; Winslow & Insel, 1991). Displacement activities often involve grooming (such as a bird
preening its feathers) or nesting under conditions of high
conflict or frustration. They may therefore be related to the
distress-induced grooming (such as washing) or tidying
rituals seen in people with OCD, which are often provoked
by obsessive thoughts that elicit anxiety.
THE EFFECTS OF ATTEMPTING TO SUPPRESS OBSESSIVE THOUGHTS Quick, don’t think about a white
bear! Gotcha. When most people attempt to suppress
unwanted thoughts they sometimes experience a paradoxical increase in those thoughts later (Wegner, 1994). As
already noted, people with normal and abnormal obsessions differ primarily in the degree to which they resist
their own thoughts and find them unacceptable. Thus,
one factor contributing to the frequency of obsessive
thoughts, and the negative moods with which they are
often associated, may be these attempts to suppress them
(similar to what was discussed earlier about the effects of
attempts to control worry in people with GAD). For
Panic, Anxiety, Obsessions, and Their Disorders
example, when people with OCD are asked to record
intrusive thoughts in a diary, both on days when they
were told to try to suppress those thoughts and on days
without instructions to suppress, they reported approximately twice as many intrusive thoughts on the days
when they were attempting to suppress them (Salkovskis
& Kirk, 1997). In addition, thought suppression leads to a
more general increase in obsessive-compulsive symptoms
beyond just the frequency of obsessions (Purdon, 2004).
Finally, naturalistic diary studies of people with OCD
reveal that they engage in frequent, strenuous, and timeconsuming attempts to control the intrusive thoughts,
although they are generally not effective in doing so
(Purdon et al., 2007).
219
normal people who have obsessions and can ordinarily dismiss them from people with OCD is this sense of responsibility that makes the thought so concerning to them.
Cognitive
factors have also been implicated in OCD. More specifically, people with OCD have an attentional bias toward
disturbing material relevant to their obsessive concerns,
much as occurs in the other anxiety disorders (McNally,
2000; Mineka et al., 2003). They also have difficulty blocking out negative, irrelevant input or distracting information, so they may attempt to suppress negative thoughts
stimulated by this information (McNally, 2000). As we
have noted, trying to suppress negative thoughts may paradoxically increase their frequency. Moreover, those with
OCD have low confidence in their memory ability (especially for situations they feel responsible for), which may
contribute to their repeating their ritualistic behaviors over
and over again (Cougle et al., 2007; Dar et al., 2000). An
additional factor contributing to their repetitive behavior is
that people with OCD have deficits in their ability to inhibit
both motor responses (Morein-Zamir et al., 2010) and irrelevant information (Bannon et al., 2008).
COGNITIVE BIASES AND DISTORTIONS
Iakov Filimonov/Shutterstok
Biological Causal Factors
Quick, don’t think about a white bear!
In recent years there has been an increase in research on
the possible biological basis for OCD, ranging from studies about its genetic basis to studies of abnormalities in
brain function and neurotransmitter abnormalities. The
evidence accumulating from all three kinds of studies suggests that biological causal factors may play a stronger
causal role for OCD relative to the other disorders discussed in this chapter.
GENETIC FACTORS Evidence from twin studies reveals a
APPRAISALS OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR INTRUSIVE
THOUGHTS Salkovskis (e.g., 1989), Rachman (1997), and
other cognitive theorists have distinguished between obsessive or intrusive thoughts per se and the negative automatic
thoughts and catastrophic appraisals that people have
about experiencing such thoughts. For example, people
with OCD often seem to have an inflated sense of responsibility. In turn, in some vulnerable people, this inflated sense
of responsibility can be associated with beliefs that simply
having a thought about doing something (e.g., a mother’s
thought about harming her infant) is morally equivalent to
actually having done it, or that thinking about the behavior
increases the chances of actually doing so. This is known as
thought–action fusion (Berle & Starcevic, 2005; Rachman et
al., 2006). This inflated sense of responsibility for the harm
they may cause can motivate compulsive behaviors to try to
reduce the likelihood of anything harmful happening
(Rachman et al., 2006). Thus, part of what differentiates
moderately high concordance rate for OCD for monozygotic
twins and a lower rate for dizygotic twins. One review of 14
published studies included 80 monozygotic pairs of twins, of
whom 54 were concordant for the diagnosis of OCD, and 29
pairs of dizygotic twins, of whom 9 were concordant. This is
consistent with a moderate genetic heritability, although it
may be at least partially a nonspecific “neurotic” predisposition (Hanna, 2000; van Grootheest et al., 2007). Consistent
with twin studies, most family studies have found 3 to 12
times higher rates of OCD in first-degree relatives of OCD
clients than would be expected from current estimates of the
prevalence of OCD (Grabe et al., 2006; Hettema, Prescott, &
Kendler, 2001). Finally, evidence also shows that early-onset
OCD has a higher genetic loading than later-onset OCD
(Grisham et al., 2008; Mundo et al., 2006).
Further compelling evidence of a genetic contribution
to some forms of OCD concerns a type of OCD that often
starts in childhood and is characterized by chronic motor
tics (Lochner & Stein, 2003). This form of tic-related OCD is
220 Chapter 6
linked to Tourette’s syndrome, a disorder characterized by
severe chronic motor and vocal tics that is known to have a
substantial genetic basis (see Chapter 15). For example, one
study found that 23 percent of first-degree relatives of people with Tourette’s syndrome had diagnosable OCD even
though Tourette’s syndrome itself is very rare (Pauls et al.,
1986, 1991, 1995).
Finally, in recent years a number of molecular genetic
studies have begun to examine the association of OCD
with specific genetic polymorphisms (naturally occurring
variations of genes; Grisham et al., 2008; Mundo et al.,
2006; Stewart et al., 2007). Preliminary findings indicate
that different genetic polymorphisms are implicated in
OCD with Tourette’s syndrome and in OCD without
Tourette’s syndrome, suggesting that these two forms of
OCD are at least partially distinguishable at a genetic level
(Stewart et al., 2007).
OCD AND THE BRAIN The search for brain abnormalities in OCD has been intense in the past 30 years as
advances have been made in brain-imaging techniques.
This research has revealed that abnormalities occur primarily in certain cortical and subcortical structures such
as the basal ganglia. The basal ganglia are in turn linked at
the amygdala to the limbic system, which controls emotional behaviors. Findings from a good number of studies
using PET scans have shown that people with OCD have
abnormally high levels of activity in two parts of the
frontal cortex (the orbital frontal cortex and the cingulate
cortex/gyrus), which are also linked to the limbic area.
People with OCD also have abnormally high levels of
activity in the subcortical caudate nucleus, which is part
of the basal ganglia (see the depiction of the relevant
brain parts in Figure 6.3).
The orbital frontal cortex seems to be where primitive
urges regarding sex, aggression, hygiene, and danger come
from (the “stuff of obsessions”; Baxter et al., 1991, p. 116).
These urges are ordinarily filtered by the caudate nucleus as
they travel through the cortico–basal–ganglionic–thalamic
circuit, allowing only the strongest to pass on to the thalamus. The caudate nucleus or corpus striatum (part of the set
of structures called the basal ganglia, which are involved in
the execution of voluntary, goal-directed movements) is
part of an important neural circuit linking the orbital frontal
cortex to the thalamus. The basal ganglia also include two
other structures—the globus pallidus and the substantia
nigra—that are involved in this cortico–basal–ganglionic–
thalamic circuit as well. The thalamus is an important relay
station that receives nearly all sensory input and passes it
back to the cerebral cortex.
This cortico–basal–ganglionic–thalamic circuit is normally involved in the preparation of complex sets of
Figure 6.3 Neurophysiological Mechanisms for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
This view illustrates parts of the brain implicated in OCD. The overlying cerebral cortex has been made transparent so
that the underlying areas can be seen. The orbital frontal cortex, cingulate gyrus/cortex, and basal ganglia (especially
the caudate nucleus) are the brain structures most often implicated in OCD. Increased metabolic activity has been
found in each of these three areas in people with OCD.
Basal ganglia
Putamen and
Globus pallidus
Cerebellum
Thalamus
Caudate
nucleus
Cerebral
cortex
Orbital frontal
cortex
Cingulate
gyrus/cortex
Corpus
callosum
Frontal
cortex
Panic, Anxiety, Obsessions, and Their Disorders
interrelated behavioral responses used in specific situations such as those involved in territorial or social concerns. Several theories have been proposed regarding
what the sources of dysfunction in this circuit are. For
example, Baxter and colleagues (1991, 2000) cited evidence that when this circuit is not functioning properly,
inappropriate behavioral responses may occur, including
repeated sets of behaviors stemming from territorial and
social concerns (e.g., checking and aggressive behavior)
and from hygiene concerns (e.g., cleaning). Thus, the
overactivation of the orbital frontal cortex, which stimulates the “stuff of obsessions,” combined with a dysfunctional interaction among the orbital frontal cortex, the
corpus striatum or caudate nucleus, and the thalamus
(which is downstream from the corpus striatum) may be
the central component of the brain dysfunction in OCD.
According to Baxter’s theory, the dysfunctions in this circuit in turn prevent people with OCD from showing the
normal inhibition of sensations, thoughts, and behaviors
that would occur if the circuit were functioning properly.
In this case, impulses toward aggression, sex, hygiene,
and danger that most people keep under control with relative ease “leak through” as obsessions and distract people with OCD from ordinary goal-directed behavior.
Evidence suggests that at least part of the reason that this
circuit does not function properly may be due to abnormalities in white matter in some of these brain areas;
white matter is involved in connectivity among various
brain structures (Szeszko et al., 2004; Yoo et al., 2007).
Considering these problems, Baxter and colleagues
proposed that we can begin to understand how the prolonged and repeated bouts of obsessive-compulsive behavior in people with OCD may occur (Baxter et al., 1991, 1992,
2000). Several other slightly different theories have also
been proposed as to the exact nature or source of the dysfunctions, but there seems to be general agreement about
most of the brain areas involved (Friedlander & Desrocher,
2006; Harrison et al., 2009; Saxena & Rauch, 2000).
NEUROTRANSMITTER ABNORMALITIES Pharmacological studies of causal factors in OCD intensified with the
discovery in the 1970s that a tricyclic drug called clomipramine (Anafranil) is often effective in the treatment of
OCD even though other tricyclic antidepressants are generally not very effective (Dougherty et al., 2007). Research
shows that this is because clomipramine has greater effects
on the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is now strongly
implicated in OCD (Pogarell et al., 2003; Stewart et al.,
2009). Moreover, several other antidepressant drugs from
the SSRI category that also have relatively selective effects
on serotonin, such as fluoxetine (Prozac), have also been
shown to be about equally effective in the treatment of
OCD (Dougherty, Rauch, et al., 2002, 2007).
221
The exact nature of the dysfunction in serotonergic
systems in OCD is unclear. Current evidence suggests that
increased serotonin activity and increased sensitivity of
some brain structures to serotonin are involved in OCD
symptoms. Indeed, drugs that stimulate serotonergic systems lead to a worsening of symptoms. In this view, longterm administration of clomipramine (or fluoxetine) causes
a downregulation of certain serotonin receptors, further
causing a functional decrease in the availability of serotonin (Dolberg, Iancu, et al., 1996; Dolberg, Sasson, et al.,
1996). That is, although the immediate short-term effects of
clomipramine or fluoxetine may be to increase serotonin
levels (and exacerbate OCD symptoms too), the long-term
effects are quite different. This is consistent with the finding that these drugs must be taken for at least 6 to 12 weeks
before significant improvement in OCD symptoms occurs
(Baxter et al., 2000; Dougherty, Rauch, et al., 2002, 2007).
However, it is also becoming clear that dysfunction in serotonergic systems cannot by itself fully explain this complex
disorder. Other neurotransmitter systems (such as the
dopaminergic, GABA, and glutamate systems) also seem
to be involved, although their role is not yet well understood (Dougherty et al., 2007; Stewart et al., 2009).
In summary, a substantial body of evidence now implicates biological causal factors in OCD. This evidence comes
from genetic studies, from studies of abnormalities in brain
function, and from studies of neurotransmitter abnormalities. Although the exact nature of these factors and how
they are interrelated is not yet fully understood, major
research efforts that are currently under way are sure to
enhance our understanding of this disorder, which is often
very serious and disabling.
Treatments
Treatment for OCD includes behavioral and cognitivebehavioral approaches as well as medication.
BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL TREATMENTS The most effective treatment for OCD is a behav-
ioral treatment called exposure and response prevention
(Franklin & Foa, 2007; Stein et al., 2009). The exposure component involves having individuals with OCD repeatedly
expose themselves (either in guided fantasy or directly) to
stimuli that provoke their obsessions (e.g., for someone with
contamination fears this may involve touching a toilet seat in
a public bathroom). The response prevention component
requires that they then refrain from engaging in the rituals
that they ordinarily would perform to reduce their anxiety or
distress. Preventing the rituals is essential so that they can see
that if they allow enough time to pass, the anxiety created by
the obsession will dissipate naturally down to at least 40 to
50 on a 100-point scale, even if this takes several hours. This
222 Chapter 6
Patrikslezak/Fotolia
is often as distressing as it sounds, and so the treatment typically starts out with manageable first steps in the person’s
fear hierarchy (e.g., touching the bottom of their shoe) and
only over time, gradually works up to more intense exposures (e.g., sitting on the floor of a dirty public restroom).
Exposure and response prevention treatment for OCD involves
having the patient encounter the source of their obsessions, such as
the germs imagined to lurk in a dirty bathroom, and preventing them
from engaging in compulsive behaviors, such as repetitive cleaning.
The treatment is often not fun for the patient, but can be very
effective in decreasing OCD symptoms.
In intensive versions of this treatment, clients who, for
example, are used to spending 2 to 3 hours a day showering and hand washing may be asked to not shower at all
for 3 days at a time (and when they finally do, to spend no
more than 10 minutes in the shower). Later in treatment
they are encouraged to shower for only 10 minutes a day,
with no more than five 30-second hand washings at mealtimes, after bathroom use, and after touching clearly soiled
objects. In addition to the exposures conducted during
therapy sessions, “homework” is liberally assigned. For
example, on one occasion well into treatment, a therapist
drove a patient who was terrified of being contaminated
by “dog dirt,” bathroom germs, garbage, and dead animals
in the road to a place where she had observed a dead cat on
the roadside. The therapist insisted that the patient
approach the “smelly” corpse, touch it with the sole of her
shoe, and then touch her shoe. A pebble lying close by and
a stick with which she had touched the cat were presented
to the patient with the instruction that she keep them in her
pocket and touch them frequently throughout the day
(Franklin & Foa, 2008, pp. 192–205).
Although some people refuse such treatment or drop
out early, most who stick with it show a 50 to 70 percent
reduction in symptoms (Abramowitz et al., 2009; Steketee,
1993), as well as improvement in quality of life (Diefenbach
et al., 2007). Approximately 50 percent are much improved
or very much improved, and another 25 percent are moderately improved; about 76 percent maintain their gains at
several-year follow-ups. These results are superior to those
obtained with medication (Abramowitz et al., 2009; Franklin
& Foa, 2008). There is also evidence that D-cycloserine (the
drug known to facilitate extinction of fear) enhances the
effectiveness of behavioral treatments like this one; however,
this enhancement is blocked if the person is taking an antidepressant as well (Andersson et al., 2015). Finally, during the
past 20 years a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy has also
been developed by Salkovskis and colleagues (Salkovskis &
Wahl, 2003). Some of the goals were to determine whether
adding a cognitive component to therapy might help a
higher percentage of people with OCD, or help increase the
degree of symptom improvement, or decrease dropout rates.
Current evidence suggests that this form of treatment can be
quite effective, but unfortunately it has not been shown to be
superior to more behavioral approaches like exposure and
response prevention therapy in any of the predicted ways
(Abramowitz et al., 2009; D. A. Clark, 2005). Moreover, some
researchers have concluded that exposure and response prevention treatment might be enhanced by the addition of cognitive therapy (Abramowitz et al., 2009). Given that OCD
rarely remits completely, leaving the client with some residual obsessional problems or rituals (Abramowitz et al., 2009;
Franklin & Foa, 2007), there is clearly a need to improve further the efficacy of these treatments.
The successful use of this exposure and response prevention treatment in the case of Mark, the young artist
with severe OCD, is described here briefly.
Mark’s Treatment
Mark was initially treated with medication and with exposure and
response prevention. He found the side effects of the medication
(clomipramine) intolerable and gave it up within a few weeks. For the
behavioral treatment, he was directed to get rid of the tape recorder
and was given a series of exercises in which he exposed himself to
feared situations where he might confess to a crime or cause harm
to others, including making phone calls, mailing letters, and entering
stores and public bathrooms (all things he had been unable to do).
Checking rituals (including the tape recorder) were prevented.
Although the initial round of treatment was not especially helpful, in
part because of difficulty in getting to treatment, he did eventually
make a commitment to more intensive treatment by moving to a
small apartment closer to the clinic. Thereafter, he did quite well.
Panic, Anxiety, Obsessions, and Their Disorders
Whereas the other anxiety disorders
respond to a range of drugs, OCD seems to respond best to
medications that affect the serotonin system. These medications, such as clomipramine (Anafranil) and fluoxetine
(Prozac) reduce the intensity of OCD symptoms, with
approximately 40 to 60 percent of people showing at least a
25 to 35 percent reduction in symptoms (relative to 4 to 5
percent on placebo; Dougherty et al., 2007; Iancu et al.,
2000). Some clients show greater improvement than this,
but about 30 to 50 percent do not show any clinically significant improvement (Mancebo et al., 2006). In approximately one-third of people who fail to respond to these
serotonergic medications, small doses of certain antipsychotic medications may produce significantly greater
improvement (Bloch et al., 2006).
A major disadvantage of medication treatment for
OCD, as for other anxiety disorders, is that when the medication is discontinued relapse rates are generally very high
(as high as 50 to 90 percent; Dougherty et al., 2007; Simpson & Liebowitz, 2006). Thus, many people who do not
seek alternative forms of behavior therapy that have more
long-lasting benefits may have to stay on these medications indefinitely. Studies in adults have generally not
found that combining medication with exposure and
response prevention is much more effective than behavior
therapy alone (Foa et al., 2005; Franklin & Foa, 2002, 2007),
although one large study showed that a combination treatment was superior in the treatment of children and adolescents with OCD (March & Franklin, 2006; Pediatric OCD
Treatment Study, 2004).
Finally, because OCD in its most severe form is such a
crippling and disabling disorder, psychiatrists have begun
to examine the usefulness of certain neurosurgical techniques for the treatment of severe, intractable OCD (which
may afflict as many as 10 percent of people diagnosed with
OCD; Mindus et al., 1994). Given the invasiveness of this
intervention, before such surgery is even contemplated,
the person must have had severe OCD for at least 5 years
and must not have responded to any of the known treatments discussed so far (medication or behavior therapy).
Several studies have shown that approximately 35 to 45
percent of these intractable cases respond quite well (at
least a one-third reduction in symptoms) to neurosurgery
designed to destroy brain tissue in one of the areas implicated in this condition (Dougherty, Baer, et al., 2002; Jenike,
2000; Rück et al., 2008). However, a significant number of
these have adverse side effects. The results of these techniques are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 16.
MEDICATIONS
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) was classified as a
somatoform disorder in DSM-IV-TR because it involves
preoccupation with certain aspects of the body. However,
223
because of its very strong similarities with OCD, it was
moved out of the somatoform category and into the OCD
and related disorders category in DSM-5. People with
BDD are obsessed with some perceived or imagined flaw or
flaws in their appearance to the point they firmly believe
they are disfigured or ugly (see the DSM-5 criteria). This
preoccupation is so intense that it causes clinically significant distress and impairment in social or occupational
functioning. Although it is not considered necessary for
the diagnosis, most people with BDD have compulsive
checking behaviors (such as checking their appearance in
the mirror excessively or hiding or repairing a perceived
flaw). Another very common symptom is avoidance of
usual activities because of fear that other people will see
the imaginary defect and be repulsed. In severe cases,
they may become so isolated that they lock themselves
up in their houses and never go out, even to work, with
the average employment rate estimated at only about 50
percent (Neziroglu et al., 2004). Not surprisingly, their
average quality of life is quite poor (IsHak et al., 2012).
Table 6.4 illustrates the range of activities with which
BDD interferes.
People with BDD may focus on almost any body part:
Their skin has blemishes, their breasts are too small, their
face is too thin (or too fat) or disfigured by visible blood
vessels that others find repulsive, and so on. Some of
the more common locations for perceived defects include
skin (73 percent), hair (56 percent), nose (37 percent),
eyes (20 percent), breasts/chest/nipples (21 percent),
stomach (22 percent), and face size/shape (12 percent)
DSM-5
Criteria for. . .
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
A. Preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws
in physical appearance that are not observable or appear
slight to others.
B. At some point during the course of the disorder, the individual has performed repetitive behaviors (e.g., mirror
checking, excessive grooming, skin picking, reassurance
seeking) or mental acts (e.g., comparing his or her appearance with that of others) in response to the appearance
concerns.
C. The preoccupation causes clinically significant distress or
impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas
of functioning.
D. The appearance preoccupation is not better explained by
concerns with body fat or weight in an individual whose
symptoms meet diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder.
Source: Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, (Copyright 2013). American
Psychiatric Association.
224 Chapter 6
Table 6.4 BDD Interference in Functioning
Percentage of People
with BDD Who
Experienced the Problem
Interference with social functioning
(e.g., with friends, family, or intimate
relationships) due to BDD
99
Periods of avoidance of nearly all
social interactions because of BDD
95
Ever felt depressed because of BDD
94
Interference with work or academic
functioning because of BDD
90
Ever thought about suicide because
of BDD*
63
Completely housebound for at least 1
week because of BDD
29
Psychiatrically hospitalized at least
once because of BDD
26
Ever attempted suicide
25
Ever attempted suicide because of BDD
14
Average Number of Days Missed
Days of work missed because of BDD*
52 days
Days of school missed because of BDD*
49 days
Diana Eller/123RF
Problem
People with body dysmorphic disorder are preoccupied with
perceived defects in certain aspects of their body and frequently
spend an inordinate amount of time obsessively checking their
appearance in the mirror.
The following case illustrates the primary features of
this disorder.
*Since BDD began.
SOURCE: Based on Katherine A. Phillips (2005). The Broken Mirror: Understanding and
Treating Dysmorphic Disorder. Oxford University Press.
(Phillips, 2005). Many sufferers have perceived defects in
more than one body part. It is very important to remember
that these are not the ordinary concerns that most of us
have about our appearance; they are far more extreme,
leading in many cases to complete preoccupation and
significant emotional pain. Some researchers estimate that
about half the people with BDD have concerns about their
appearance that are of delusional intensity (Allen &
Hollander, 2004). Keep in mind that others do not even see
the defects that the person with BDD believes she or he
has, or if they do, they see only a very minor defect within
the normal range.
Another common feature of BDD is that people with
this condition frequently seek reassurance from friends
and family about their defects, but the reassurances
almost never provide more than very temporary relief.
They also frequently seek reassurance for themselves by
checking their appearance in the mirror countless times
in a day (although some avoid mirrors completely). They
are usually driven by the hope that they will look different, and sometimes they may think their perceived defect
does not look as bad as it has at other times. However,
much more commonly they feel worse after mirror gazing
(Veale & Riley, 2001). They frequently engage in excessive
grooming behavior, often trying to camouflage their perceived defect through their hairstyle, clothing, or makeup
(Sarwer et al., 2004).
Seeing Spots
Steve is a 24-year-old engineer who presented for treatment at the
request of his wife. He was recently fired from his job after refusing
to go into work for a 2-week period because of his extreme concerns about his appearance. He explains that he could no longer
tolerate the enormous birth marks that cover his face, and so he has
begun trying to pluck them off his face with nail clippers. This led to
noticeable cuts and scabs on his face, which embarrassed him further and prevented him from going to work. Steve’s wife reports that
although he does have a few very small and hardly noticeable freckles on his face, Steve has never had any significant birth marks or
detectable skin discoloration.
Steve explained that ever since he can remember he has “not
been thrilled” with the beauty marks on his face, but in the past
year they have really bothered him to the point of thinking about
them constantly and wishing they were gone. His wife said that
Steve spends at least an hour in the mirror each morning and evening looking at the marks, asking her if she really loves him despite
their presence, and researching ways to eliminate them via facial
plastic surgery, bleaching, or some other cosmetic procedure. His
job loss and facial lacerations were enough to push Steve’s wife to
insist that he see a psychologist for treatment, and Steve has
agreed to do so.
PREVALENCE, AGE OF ONSET, AND GENDER DIFFERENCES Approximately 2 percent of people in the com-
munity meet diagnostic criteria for BDD, as do
approximately 20 percent of people seeking rhinoplasty
(i.e., a “nose job”; Veale et al., 2016). The prevalence seems
to be approximately equal in men and women, although
the primary body parts that are focused on tend to differ in
Panic, Anxiety, Obsessions, and Their Disorders
men and women (Phillips, 2005; Phillips & Diaz, 1997).
Men are more likely to obsess about their genitals, body
build, and balding, whereas women tend to obsess more
about their skin, stomach, breasts, buttocks, hips, and legs
(Phillips, Menard, & Fay, 2006). The age of onset is usually
in adolescence, when many people start to become preoccupied with their appearance. People with BDD very commonly also have a depressive diagnosis (with most
estimates being over 50 percent; Allen & Hollander, 2004),
and it can even lead to suicide attempts or death (Neziroglu et al., 2004; Phillips & Menard, 2006). Indeed, of nearly
200 patients with BDD, Phillips and Menard (2006) found
that 80 percent reported a history of suicidal ideation, and
28 percent had a history of a suicide attempt. Rates of
comorbid social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder are also quite substantial, although not as high as for
depression (Allen & Hollander, 2004; Coles et al., 2006).
Not surprisingly, BDD, like OCD, is often associated with a
poor quality of life (IsHak et al., 2012).
Sufferers of BDD commonly make their way into the
office of a dermatologist or plastic surgeon, with one estimate being that over 75 percent seek nonpsychiatric treatment (Phillips et al., 2001). An astute doctor will not do the
requested procedures and may instead make a referral to a
psychologist or psychiatrist. All too often, though, the
patient does get what he or she requests—and unfortunately is almost never satisfied with the outcome. Even if
they are satisfied with the outcome, such patients still tend
to retain their diagnosis of BDD (Tignol et al., 2007).
225
anorexia are emaciated and generally satisfied with this
aspect of their appearance (Phillips, 2005).
BDD has existed for centuries and seems to
be a universal disorder, occurring in all European countries, the Middle East, China, Japan, and Africa (Phillips,
2005). Why, then, did its examination in the literature begin
only recently? One possible reason is that its prevalence
may actually have increased in recent years as contemporary Western culture has become increasingly focused on
“looks as everything,” with billions of dollars spent each
year on enhancing appearance through makeup, clothes,
plastic surgery, and other means (Fawcett, 2004). A second
reason BDD has been understudied is that most people
with this condition never seek psychological or psychiatric
treatment. Rather, they suffer silently or go to dermatologists or plastic surgeons (Crerand et al., 2004; Phillips,
2001; Tignol et al., 2007). Factors for this secrecy and shame
include worries that others will think they are superficial,
silly, or vain and that if they mention their perceived defect,
others will notice it and focus more on it. Part of the reason
why more people are now seeking treatment is that starting in the past 15 years the disorder has received a good
deal of media attention. It has even been discussed on
some daily talk shows, where it is sometimes called “imaginary defect disorder.” As increasing attention is focused
on this disorder, the secrecy and shame often surrounding
it should decrease, and more people will seek treatment.
WHY NOW?
RELATIONSHIP TO OCD AND EATING DISORDERS
CAUSAL FACTORS: A BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL APPROACH
TO BDD Our understanding of what causes BDD is still
People with BDD, like those with OCD, have prominent
obsessions, and they engage in a variety of ritualistic
behaviors such as reassurance seeking, mirror checking,
comparing themselves to others, and camouflage. Moreover, they are even more convinced that their obsessive
beliefs are accurate than are people with OCD (Eisen et al.,
2003). In addition to these similarities in symptoms, there
is overlap in the potential causes. For example, the same
neurotransmitter (serotonin) and the same sets of brain
structures are implicated in the two disorders (Rauch et al.,
2003; Saxena & Feusner, 2006), and the same kinds of treatments that work for OCD are also the treatments of choice
for BDD (Phillips, 2005).
Some researchers have noted similarities between
BDD and eating disorders, especially anorexia nervosa.
Perhaps the most striking similarities between these disorders are the excessive concern and preoccupation about
physical appearance, dissatisfaction with one’s body, and a
distorted image of certain features of one’s body (Allen &
Hollander, 2004; Cororve & Gleaves, 2001). It is important
to remember, however, that people with BDD look normal
and yet are terribly obsessed and distressed about some
aspect of their appearance. By contrast, people with
at a preliminary stage, but recent research seems to suggest
that a biopsychosocial approach offers some reasonable
hypotheses. First, one recent twin study found that overconcern with a perceived or slight defect in physical
appearance is a moderately heritable trait (Monzani et al.,
2012). Second, BDD seems to be occurring, at least today, in
a sociocultural context that places great value on attractiveness and beauty, and people who develop BDD often hold
attractiveness as their primary value. This means that their
self-schemas are heavily focused around such ideas as “If
my appearance is defective, then I am worthless” (endorsed
by 60 percent in one study) (Buhlmann & Wilhelm, 2004,
p. 924). One possibility why this occurs is that, in many
cases, people with BDD were reinforced as children for
their overall appearance more than for their behavior
(Neziroglu et al., 2004). Another possibility is that they
were teased or criticized for their appearance, which
caused conditioning of disgust, shame, or anxiety to their
own image of some part of their body. For example, one
study of individuals with BDD found that 56 to 68 percent
reported a history of emotional neglect or emotional abuse,
and approximately 30 percent reported a history of physical or sexual abuse or physical neglect (Didie et al., 2006).
226 Chapter 6
In addition, substantial empirical evidence now demonstrates that people with BDD show biased attention
and interpretation of information relating to attractiveness (Buhlmann & Wilhelm, 2004). They selectively attend
to positive or negative words such as ugly or beautiful
more than to other emotional words not related to appearance, and they tend to interpret ambiguous facial expressions as contemptuous or angry more than do controls.
When they are shown pictures of their own face that have
been manipulated to be more or less symmetrical than in
reality, they show a greater discrepancy than controls
between judgments of their “actual” face and their “ideal”
face. Asked to choose the pictures that best matched their
faces, controls’ choices were more symmetrical than their
real faces, while patients with BDD lacked this bias
(Lambrou et al., 2011). Moreover, several fMRI studies
have found that patients with BDD showed fundamental
differences in visually processing other people’s faces relative to controls. Specifically, they showed a bias for
extracting local, detailed features rather than the more
global or holistic processing of faces seen in controls
(Feusner et al., 2007). A second study showed that when
patients with BDD are shown a picture of their own face,
they demonstrate greater activation than do healthy controls in brain regions associated with inhibitory processes
and the rigidity of behavior and thinking (the orbitofrontal cortex and the caudate) (Feusner et al., 2010). Similarly,
compared to controls, patients with BDD demonstrate
performance deficits on tasks that measure executive
functioning (e.g., manipulating information, planning,
and organization), which is thought to be guided by prefrontal brain regions (Dunai et al., 2010). Whether or not
these factors play a causal role is not yet known, but certainly having such biases and deficits in processing information would, at a minimum, serve to perpetuate the
disorder once it has developed.
The
treatments that are effective for BDD are closely related to
those used in the effective treatment of OCD. Some evidence indicates that antidepressant medications from the
SSRI category often produce moderate improvement in
patients with BDD, but many are not helped or show only
a modest improvement (Phillips, 2004, 2005; Phillips,
Pagano, & Menard, 2006). However, in some cases showing only limited improvement, it is possible that inadequate doses of the medication were used, thus leading to
an underestimation of their true potential effects. In general, it seems that higher doses of these medications are
needed to effectively treat BDD relative to OCD (Hadley
et al., 2006). In addition, a form of cognitive-behavioral
treatment emphasizing exposure and response prevention has been shown to produce marked improvement in
50 to 80 percent of treated patients (Sarwer et al., 2004;
Simon, 2002). These treatment approaches focus on getting the patient to identify and change distorted perceptions
of his or her body during exposure to anxiety-provoking
situations (e.g., when wearing something that highlights
rather than disguises the “defect”) and on prevention of
checking responses (e.g., mirror checking, reassurance
seeking, and repeated examination of the imaginary
defect). The treatment gains are generally well maintained at follow-up (Looper & Kirmayer, 2002; Sarwer
et al., 2004).
Hoarding Disorder
Hoarding is a condition that had received very little
research attention until the past 15 to 20 years. It has been
brought into public awareness recently through several TV
series such as A&E’s Hoarders or TLC’s Hoarding: Buried
Alive. Traditionally, hoarding was thought of as one particular symptom of OCD, but this categorization was increasingly questioned (Mataix-Cols et al., 2010) and hoarding
disorder was added as a new disorder in DSM-5. Compulsive hoarding (as a symptom) occurs in approximately 3 to
5 percent of the adult population, and in 10 to 40 percent of
Matthew Nock
TREATMENT OF BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER
Most people are able to maintain a balance of possessions, keeping
things they perceive to be of value and discarding those that they do
not. People with hoarding disorder have an extremely difficult time
parting with possessions that most people would not perceive to be
of value, such as clothing, empty bags or boxes, food containers, and
so on. This condition often leads to enormous amounts of clutter to
the point where all or parts of the person’s home become unusable.