Marcus has recently been diagnosed with both schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). His schizophrenia symptoms include hearing voices that command him to perform certain acts (auditory hallucinations) and feeling that his movements are controlled by an external force (delusions of control). His OCD symptoms involve persistent, intrusive thoughts that his hands are contaminated with deadly pathogens, leading him to wash his hands repeatedly for hours.
Marcus’s biological mother has a history of severe OCD, while his maternal uncle has schizophrenia. Furthermore, Marcus’s symptoms escalated rapidly after he was laid off from his job as an air traffic controller.
Discuss biological explanations for schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. With reference to Marcus, evaluate the extent to which these two disorders share common biological mechanisms.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Content with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 1,059 questions covering Issues around drug taking, Biological explanations of drug addiction, Learning explanations of drug addiction, Treatments for drug addiction, Anti-drug campaign and strategies, Individual differences, and Developmental psychology, matched to the Edexcel A Level Psychology (9PS0) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
