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Reconceptualization of Behavior Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder from a Learning and Neurochemical Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Fugen Neziroglu  and
Curtis Hsia
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Abstract

The etiology and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder has been explained from a social learning and neurobiological model. In this article a third model is proposed: the biobehavioral model, which encompasses a learning and neurochemical viewpoint. The authors suggest that behavior therapy and medications may operate in the same manner and that behavior therapy may need to be reconceptualized. Animal and human research supporting the interaction of behavioral change and neurochemical processes is presented. The authors also posit that urges precede anxiety and that compulsions are performed in response to the anxiety. Also, obsessions are viewed as secondary to compulsions. The mechanism of how behavior and cognitive-behavioral therapy may produce neurochemical changes is discussed.

Type
Feature Articles
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 3 , Issue 7: Novel Neuropsychiatric Conceptualizations , August 1998 , pp. 47 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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