As Good As It Gets Analysis

In the 1997 film As Good as It Gets, Melvin Udall suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) which, paired with his misanthropy, puts off the neighbors in his Manhattan apartment building and nearly everyone else with whom he comes into contact. Melvin Udall does many things that seem odd. He's a bully who delights in heaping abuse on everyone unfortunate enough to encounter him yet is impressed when someone has the guts to push back. He avoids touching other people but deliberately obstructs his favorite waitress so that she has to touch him to pass. He speaks rudely and crudely to people but whispers sweet nothings to a dog: "Don't be like me, don't you be like me. You stay just the way you are because you are a perfect man." He's afraid of many things but mostly afraid of others seeing his fear. He is brutally insensitive to others. He has a ritual to locking his door, turning

Some people with OCD have violent thoughts. They may fear that they or someone they love will die in a horrible accident or that they will harm someone. One example is drivers who fear that they have run down someone, so they return to the spot to check or give up driving. As is stated in the DSM-IV-TR, people with OCD suffer from recurrent obsessions and/or compulsions. Obsessive thoughts can push aside more important things that the person needs to do and make the person feel compelled to take action. For example, people may follow the same route to school even if it takes them miles out of their way or makes them late for class. Or they may let their doubts about touching the tree cause them to go out and touch it again, only to doubt again whether they took the action. Such people may follow their compulsions because they hope to ease the anxiety they feel about their