Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X Brittany Myers, Jessica Marquez, and Molly Shelton

OCD examples EoV0fSm4&feature=player_embedded EoV0fSm4&feature=player_embedded fXc&feature=player_embedded fXc&feature=player_embedded Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Symptoms consist of recurrent and persistent thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive, relatively stereotyped behaviors (compulsions) that the person feels compelled to think or perform but recognizes as irrational or excessive. Obsessions can include putting oneself down constantly, concern with bodily functions, fears of the spread of disease, and fear of being responsible for harm of a friend. Compulsions can include excessive checking, avoidance behaviors, and compulsive washing of hands or the home. twice as prevalent as schizophrenia or panic disorder. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Explanations for the presence of OCD Demons inhabiting a person’s body. “One is a pathological intensity of excitation of the particular thoughts, ideas, or actions.” “The other is a relative failure of the systems that normally terminate such thoughts, ideas, or actions.” Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

G.F. Reed’s Studies “ Majority of patient’s (70%) described the experience of compulsions in terms of some impairment of will power.” “Those who are trapped in a circle of repetitive behavior do not report that something forces them to continue, but they lack something to make them stop.” Conceptualization of OCD as a cognitive disorder. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Szechtman & Woody’s article Individuals with OCD do not have difficulty with everyday tasks, which is what a broken cognitive module would suggest. “Such symptoms, despite their apparent nonrationality, have what might be termed an epistemic origin – that is, they stem from an inability to generate the normal ‘feeling of knowing’ that would otherwise signal task completion and terminate the expression of a security motivational system.” Security Motivation System Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Security Motivation System Seeks to protect oneself and others from potential danger. System is overactive in OCD patients because they are lacking the “feeling of knowing” that allows them to know when to deactivate that system. Individuals with OCD never reach that feeling that they no longer need to be on guard. Feeling of knowing as “yedasentience” Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Yedasentience Satisfaction of knowing that you or others that you are seeking to protect are not in harm’s way. “The security motivation system has two distinct emotional states: anxiety as part of a go signal, and yedasentience is the stop signal.” Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Security Motivation of OCD victims 1. Appraisal of potential danger- organism evaluates incoming environmental stimuli. If one sees potential danger or threat to self or others then… 2. Security Motivation- when activated, generates a set of coordinated outputs that serve to energize and focus the individual on attaining a specific goal. 3. This then activates security related programs- motor and cognitive programs that protect the self or others. For example: washing hands. 4. Then comes motor or visceral output. This behavior/program done in previous step leads to yedasentience, that stops the signal and enables the individual to stop the action. – Someone with OCD doesn’t have this Yedasentience component, which causes them to continue the behavior or thought in a compulsive manor. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Security Motivation of OCD victims Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Conclusion OCD as a disturbance of security motivation. The inability to put closure on experience in OCD is not a problem in higher cognition, rather, is a deficit in its emotional underpinnings. – In the OCD patient, the performance of security- related behavior fails to generate the feeling state that would normally shut down security motivation. – Deficit in emotion-based knowing. OCD patient’s doubt their own behavior. – They disbelieve their behavior because it fails to produce the normal internal feedback that should have released the, from the grip of activated security motivation. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Conclusion continued… OCD patients cannot look onto the environment to compensate for the terminator that they cannot genrate. Their recourse is to repeat the behavior over and over, in an attempt to overcome a dysfunctional feedback mechanism and eventually dampen the driving motivation. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Interesting Points 1) Individuals who suffer from obsessive- compulsive disorder are most likely to describe it as experiencing compulsions as a result of an impairment of willpower (70%) rather than seeing the disorder as a sickness (16%) or blaming it on the power of the compulsions (4%). Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Interesting Points 2) The behaviors victims of obsessive-compulsive disorder enact are a result of behavioral packages that were programmed through evolutionary psychology, and therefore biological prerequisites in the brain. This hard wiring could include checking behaviors, cleaning behaviors, and concern about danger to the self and others. Individuals who suffer from OCD experience an inability to control this hardwiring. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Interesting Point 3) The security motivation system refers to the biological predispositions hardwired through evolutionary psychology. It is directed toward protecting oneself from danger to self and others. The “feeling of knowing,” which the authors coin as yedasentience, is what shuts down the security motivation system and lets the person know that they no longer need to be on guard. Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder lack the ability to achieve yedasentience. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Criticisms 1) Although the authors did a good job at supporting their belief that obsessive-compulsive disorder is a result of a failure of the system that normally terminates obsessions and compulsions, they did not do a sufficient enough job of debunking the other side of the argument. They did not sufficiently explore the belief of OCD as a result of an intensity of particular thoughts, ideas, and actions. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Criticisms 2) The authors described their theory and the security motivation system thoroughly, but they never did any experiments to test its validity. It would be interesting to see how the brains of individuals with OCD react differently to certain situations that threaten danger versus the brains of individuals who are free from OCD. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X

Criticisms 3) The authors mentioned how this security motivation system would have adapted over time as part of evolution, but they never went into too much detail. They did not give examples of how this security motivation system would have benefited our ancestors. Szechtman, H., & Woody, E. (2004). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation. Psychological Review, 111(1), doi: / X