Paper 6
A Family Study of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
DL Pauls, JP Alsobrook 2nd, W Goodman, S Rasmussen and JF Leckman This précis offers a clear outline of an experiment conducted by Yale University and what its objectives were. From a literary point of view, the text is easy to follow and clearly identified with capitalised headings, but from a scientific perspective, the results and subsequent theories seem inconclusive. My main concern is regarding the number of cases studied, just 100: Such a figure can hardly offer concrete data from which to form a sound conclusion. As this study was to examine the relationship between OCD and Tourette’s syndrome and also the effect of this condition within family groups, a much wider subject base would seem more appropriate. Having said that, the results gathered from this test do suggest a common thread of reciprocal behaviour patterns and warrants further investigation. Upon further study, if this proves to be the case, we may well see a time when a patient’s entire family enter treatment for OCD following diagnosis.
Pauls, D,L. Alsobrook 2nd, J,P. Goodman, W. Rasmusen, S. Leckman, J,F. (1995). A Family Study of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Retrieved March 11, 2007 from: http://www.ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/152/1/76
I’d agree completely with the ‘inconclusive’ tag – what precisely does this study prove?
I’d tend to think of ‘reciprocal behavioural patterns’ as a very obvious result of living in close confines with someone who has a disorder of some kind. How your nearest and dearest behave does tend to affect ones own behaviour. If you live with someone who is unpredicatable or compulsive in some way, it is almost inevitable that your responses will be shaped by it – but does that prove you are suffering from the same disorder? No. People tend to immitate or reflect each others behaviour, maybe that’s what they’ve seen.