Obsessions and addictions –
what do they tell us about normal
behaviour?
FREDERICK TOATES
S–R
link
Stimulus
Response
CNS
(a)
State
S–R
link
Stimulus
State
Stimulus
Response
CNS
(b)
Cognition
S–R
link
Response
CNS
(c)
Changing Weight
a) The properties of behaviour depend upon the
particular relative weight attached to the factors.
b) The relative weight of these factors that is
necessary for optimal performance differs
according to circumstances.
c)
Changing performance under changing conditions
often reflects such a shift; and
d) Under sub-optimal conditions the weight distorts,
such as to lead to behavioural pathology.
Factors that Change the Weight of Offline/On-line Controls
a) Development
b) Learning
c) Phylogeny
d) Brain damage
e) Chemical influences
Type of obsession
Harm/ aggressive
threat
(fears about one’s own
well-being and that of
loved ones or of
inflicting damage)
Type of compulsion
Intrusive thoughts related Seek physical proximity;
to harm/ loss
check on well-being of
loved one; take preemptive action, e.g. to
avoid possible triggers,
accidents; seek evidence
that one has not
performed some awful
deed in the past
Moral threat
Intrusive thoughts
/images about a morally
unacceptable sexual
behaviour
Avoid possible triggers/
seek reassurance
Cleanliness threat
(fears about
contamination)
Intrusive thoughts that
hands are not clean or
that germs might
contaminate oneself or
others
Washing and cleansing
behaviour
Religious threat
Blasphemous thoughts
Reassurance/ protracted
religious rituals
A sequence of OCD logic
• The photographer must have been close to Hudson
because the photo was a “close up”
• So the photographer himself might have been
contaminated.
• So, when he developed the negative, he could have
contaminated it.
• The negative was in contact with the print of the
photograph and so could have contaminated it.
• The man in charge of printing the newspaper used the
photograph, and so, he could have passed its
contamination on to the newspaper’s printer.
• The printing press could have passed the contamination
on to the picture in every newspaper.
• So, when I touched the newspaper, I too might have
been contaminated.
Addictive substances/activities
• Food
• Sex
•
•
•
•
•
Drugs
Alcohol
Heroin
Cocaine
Nicotine
• Gambling
• Shopping
• Internet
• Oil
Comparison of OCD and addiction
OCD
addiction
Motivational direction of
underlying process
avoid
approach
Perception of quality of
intrusion
negative
Positive/negative
External stimuli
Can set off/ salience increase
Can set off/ salience increase
Head-on confrontation
To be avoided
To be avoided
Behaviour therapy of
exposure
effective
inappropriate
Chemical interventions
SSRIs effective in some
cases
SSRIs effective in some cases
Role of stress
Makes worse (increased
distress by intrusions)
Increased danger of relapse
Makes worse (increased distress
by intrusions)
Increased danger of relapse
Psychological treatment
Guided diversion/challenge
interpretation
Guided diversion
Abnormal Brain
mechanisms
Frontal cortex-striatum
Frontal cortex-striatum
T
E
N
D
E
N
C
Y
AVOID
APPROACH
DISTANCE
APPROACH
T
E
N
D
E
N
C
Y
AVOID
DISTANCE