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Related Concept Videos

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder01:28

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition characterized by recurrent obsessions, compulsions, or both, which consume significant time and interfere with daily functioning. Obsessions involve persistent, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that evoke anxiety. Common examples include irrational fears of contamination or harm. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed to reduce the anxiety caused by obsessions. For instance, individuals...
Anxiety: Overview01:18

Anxiety: Overview

Anxiety is a common mental disorder featuring excessive worry, fear, and apprehension, significantly affecting daily life. People with anxiety disorders experience persistent and intense anxiety, interrupting their everyday functioning.
Individuals with anxiety often experience a range of physical and emotional symptoms, including sweating, trembling, tachycardia, and disturbances in sleep patterns. These symptoms vary in intensity and frequency but are generally disruptive and distressing.
Personality Disorders: Dependent and Obsessive-Compulsive01:24

Personality Disorders: Dependent and Obsessive-Compulsive

Dependent personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder are two separate psychological conditions that influence behavior, relationships, and overall life functioning. Though both involve maladaptive behaviors, their core characteristics and motivations differ significantly.
 Dependent Personality Disorder
Dependent personality disorder is characterized by an excessive reliance on others to manage various aspects of life. Individuals with this disorder often struggle with...
Operant Conditioning Intervention01:24

Operant Conditioning Intervention

Operant conditioning serves as a foundational principle in therapeutic interventions aimed at modifying maladaptive behaviors. Central to this approach is the notion that behaviors, both adaptive and maladaptive, are learned through reinforcement. By analyzing the environmental factors that reinforce problematic behaviors, clinicians can design interventions to weaken these reinforcements and replace maladaptive behaviors with healthier alternatives.
In operant conditioning, behaviors that are...
Behavior Therapy01:22

Behavior Therapy

Behavior therapy incorporates diverse techniques rooted in classical conditioning principles to address maladaptive behaviors and anxiety disorders. These methods aim to reduce avoidance behaviors, foster adaptive coping mechanisms, and alter associations between stimuli and responses, making them effective in a wide range of therapeutic contexts.
Exposure therapy is a cornerstone of behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders. It involves systematic exposure to feared stimuli, either in real...
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness01:14

Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness

Avoidance learning and learned helplessness are critical concepts in understanding behavioral responses to negative stimuli.
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...

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Related Experiment Video

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Signal Attenuation as a Rat Model of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
09:29

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Published on: January 9, 2015

Enhanced avoidance habits in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Claire M Gillan1, Sharon Morein-Zamir1, Gonzalo P Urcelay2

  • 1Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.

Biological Psychiatry
|March 21, 2013
PubMed
Summary

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients exhibit a greater tendency to form avoidance habits compared to controls. This suggests that excessive habit formation may underlie compulsivity in OCD.

Keywords:
Avoidancecognitive neurosciencegoal-directed learninghabitobsessive-compulsive disorderpsychophysiology

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by compulsive urges and excessive avoidance behaviors.
  • A recent hypothesis suggests OCD compulsivity stems from overactive stimulus-response habit formation, leading to goal-insensitive actions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if individuals with OCD demonstrate a bias towards habit formation.
  • To explore the relationship between habit formation, obsessions, and anxiety in OCD patients.

Main Methods:

  • A shock avoidance task with overtraining was employed to induce habits in 25 OCD patients and 25 controls.
  • Habits were identified using goal-devaluation, and associations with cognitions and arousal were measured via behavior, questionnaires, and skin conductance responses.

Main Results:

  • Following overtraining, OCD patients displayed significantly more avoidance habits than control subjects.
  • Both groups showed similar levels of conditioned arousal, contingency knowledge, and explicit shock expectancy ratings.
  • Habitual responses were linked to a subjective urge to perform the action.

Conclusions:

  • The findings support the habit account of OCD, indicating a propensity for excessive avoidance habit formation in OCD patients.
  • Further research is required to elucidate the specific roles of physiological arousal and explicit fear in OCD habit formation.