----- Original Message ----- From: "Allen Esterson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 10:19 PM Subject: Re: Student Question on OCD
Thanks for the information Allen. I suppose that the choice of the words "sexual and aggressive impulse" was unfortunate, since most of us almost automatically associate them with Freud. Hence, the image of the unconscious. Of course, I did not say these were 'unconscious' impulses. In fact, I was referring to that small subset of sufferers who have 'conscious' sexual and aggressive impulses. An example of the latter would be a person diverting their thinking away from an impulse toward self-harm perhaps, by engaging in a repetitive action, such as lining up candies over and over. I also made the mistake in my original post of making it seem as if that was the only way that I described OCD in class. In relating obsessions to compulsions I had talked about repetitive actions as performed in response to some kind of obsessive thought, be it an impulse, fear, or doubt, for example. It was this focus on the interaction between the two that led to my original question about how/if they might operate separately in some individuals. I agree with what you and others (off list) have said about the text and the citations. I don't know, perhaps the authors got lazy at that point? Having just said all that and having read the article you included, it seems as though the authors, Abed and de Pauw, do discuss obsessional thoughts in terms of unconscious mental activity, although they do not use those words. To quote from the article: "It is contended that obsessional phenomena are archaic, involuntary, repetitive thought processes that stimulate strong aversive emotional states (e.g. fear, disgust) and lead to risk avoidance behaviour. It is hypothesised that the neurobiological system that generates these phenomena has the function of generating risk scenarios without conscious intervention..." The evolutionary perspective is indeed fascinating and has a lot to offer, in almost every domain of psychology, so it would seem. Not only may it explain OCD but potentially many other forms of mental disorder, such as depression. The idea of mental modules that were once adaptive and therefore selected by nature that now produce maladaptive responses in modern environments is, to me, very intriguing. Yet, at the same time, I wonder if this approach isn't, if it hasn't already, setting itself up for the same sort of criticisms that Freud often receives. That is, explaining almost everything, yet proving nothing? Mike Lee, MA Dept of Psychology University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada > Mike Lee wrote in his first posting on OCD (29 March): > > In talking about OCD today, I described it as a > > disorder in which repetitive actions (compulsions) > > are essentially reactions to repetitive thoughts (obsessions). > > The action (repeating the alphabet over and over) helps > > divert thinking away from the frightening or inappropriate > > sexual or aggressive impulse, or whatever the case may be. > > I discussed this at length (by phone) with a psychiatrist friend, who > tells me that for a small subset of sufferers from OCD the individuals in > question have (conscious) sexual and aggressive obsessive thoughts which > they try to keep at bay by going through repetitive actions. However, > there is no good evidence that underlying OCD in general are (unconscious) > frightening sexual and aggressive impulses, as other TIPSters have > indicated. > > Mike wrote, in response to previous postings: > >I can only tell you that I'm referring to OCD as it is > >described in an Intro level textbook (Nairne, et al. 2004). > >The citations for the Interpretation I gave are: > > >Jenike, M.A., Baer, L., & Minichiello, W. E. (Eds.) (1986). > >Obsessive-compulsive disorders: Theory and management. > > >Salkovskis, P.M. (1985). Obsessional compulsive problems: A cognitive > >Behavioral analysis. Behavior Research and Therapy, 23, 571-577. > > It seems odd that Nairne et al (2004) should cite the book edited by > Jenike et al (2004) without specifying which authors of chapters in the > volume have put forward the psychodynamic explanation in question. My > aforementioned informant tells me that the numerous authors of chapters in > the book take a wide variety of positions on the cause of OCD, and many, > if not most, would not endorse the theory cited by Mike. > > For an intriguing theory from an evolutionary psychology point of view > TIPSters might be interested in reading: > Abed, R. T., and de Pauw, K. W., "An Evolutionary Hypothesis for Obsessive > Compulsive Disorder: A Psychological Immune System?" > http://cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/00001147/00/ocd-final.htm > > A confession: Karel W. de Pauw is my aforementioned "psychiatrist > friend"!) > > Allen Esterson > Former lecturer, Science Department > Southwark College, London > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://www.human-nature.com/esterson/index.html > http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=10 > ---------------------------- > Mon, 29 Mar 2004 18:07:14 -0600 > Author: "Michael Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Student Question on OCD > > > Thanks David and Martha for your replies. > > > > Perhaps David's response to your question helps Annette? > > > > I can only tell you that I'm referring to OCD as it is described in an > > Intro level textbook (Nairne, et al. 2004). The citations for the > > interpretation > > I gave are: > > > > Jenike, M.A., Baer, L., & Minichiello, W. E. (Eds.) (1986). > > Obsessive-compulsive > > disorders: Theory and management. > > > > Salkovskis, P.M. (1985). Obsessional compulsive problems: A cognitive > > behavioral > > analysis. Behavior Research and Therapy, 23, 571-577. > > > > -Mike > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
