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Dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive compulsive disorder and how behavioral theory explains it
Dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder
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In the movie, “What About Bob”, the character Bob Wiley displays many different psychological symptoms and disorders. He displays symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and agoraphobia, predominately. Bob is a middle-aged man that has been in therapy for many, many years. The opening scene of the movie shows the audience many of Bob's disorders, as well as symptoms. It appears as though Bob’s current therapist is attempting to get away from Bob, by pushing him on to his colleague, Dr. Marvin. The movie then goes on to describe Bob’s journey with his new therapist, Dr. Marvin. Bob Wiley displays many different characteristics and symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Obsessions are “persistent thoughts, ideas, impulses, or images that seem to invade the person’s consciences”, while compulsions are “repetitive and rigid behaviors or mental acts that people feel they must perform in order to prevent or reduce anxiety” (Comer, 2015). Bob is very concerned and worried about germs. He uses a kleenex whenever he needs to open a door. He informs Dr. Marvin, that “I worry about diseases so i have trouble touching things”. Bob’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can be explained through the behavioral perspective. Many behavioralists are very concentrated on explaining the …show more content…
In this treatment, “clients are repeatedly exposed to objects or situations that produce anxiety, obsessive fears, and compulsive behaviors, but they are told to resist performing the behaviors they feel so bound to preform” (Comer, 2015). Individuals going through this treatment will often find it extremely difficult to resist the urge to preform these compulsions, or behaviors, therefor the therapist will often be the first to set this example. This treatment can be conducted in an individual, or group
In psychology, there are various schools of thought when approaching a particular psychological problem. Each may view the scenario from a different avenue of approach, and their methods and techniques used to treat the problem may also vary. This paper will discuss case scenario three, involving a man named John who appears to be exhibiting obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). With this example, the paper will discuss the various schools of thought in psychological theory, their techniques, and recommendations for treatment; to include how this knowledge could be applied to my current professional work.
A 1991 comedy directed by Frank Oz What About Bob is based on a psychiatric patient, Bob Wiley and his new narcissistic psychologist Dr. Leo Marvin. Bob Wiley is a good guy just a little socially awkward and misguided. Bob suffers from multiple phobias; he tells Leo in his introductory interview that he has "problems". He can be quite obsessive compulsive at times, he often worries about catching diseases and has a fear of being out in public as well as having mini anxiety attacks. Leo diagnoses Bob with multiphobic personality and acute separation anxiety shortly after meeting with him. Leo let's Bob know that they will continue therapy in one month, when he returns to New York from vacation after Labor Day.
McLean, P. D., Whittal, M. L., Thordarson, D. S., Taylor, S., Söchting, I., Koch, W. J., Paterson, R. & Anderson, K. W. (2001). Cognitive versus behavior therapy in the group treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 69 (2), 205-214. doi: 10.1037//0022-006X.69.2.205
In the book "The boy who couldn't stop washing" by Judith L. Rapoport, M.D., the narrator, Rapoport, deals with hundreds of mentally disturbed children and adults who suffer of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Rapoport describes the intricacies of the disease and its treatments as well as the fact that the cause is unknown but there are many probable theories. Victims of this horrible disease are plagued with overwhelming thoughts of insecurity that tear apart their lives and haunt them, increasingly, over their lifetimes. Rapoport while learning about OCD, herself, learned how to treat each one with many different psychological perspectives including: biological, behavioral, and psychodynamic contributions. A story on ABC's 20/20 about OCD brought Rapoport's new study on the disease to the light, resulting in thousands of calls to her office daily from desperate OCD sufferers.
The opening scene shows Bob sitting in apartment saying "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful" to himself over and over again as he rubbed his temples. He repeats this to himself whenever he is nervous or in a new situation. He also uses tissues to open doors or to touch anything outside of his apartment that may have germs from other people. He is constantly worrying about diseases. According to the DMS-5, his compulsion (of talking to himself into everything he does) paired with the obsession (with germs) makes it clear that he has OCD (APA,
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder which causes people to develop an anxiety when certain obsessions or compulsions are not fulfilled. OCD can affect both children and adults with more than half of all adults with OCD stating that they experienced signs as a child. People living with OCD display many obvious signs such as opening and closing a door fifty times because they have to do it “just right”. Others exhibit extreme cleanliness and will wash their hands or take showers as often as they can because they constantly feel dirty. OCD devastates people’s social lives as they are fixated and obsessed with perfection that can take forever to achieve. However people living with OCD are often found to have an above average intelligence and typically excel at school due to their detail oriented mindset, cautious planning and patience. OCD can be caused by many different factors such as genetics or the ever changing world a...
Some symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) include fear of germs, perfectionism, and rituals. When someone has OCD, they are afraid of germs and might constantly be washing their hands or cleaning their room. Someone who suffers from OCD needs everything to be perfect and they might organize their closet by color and size. Their rituals calm their anxiety. Certain rituals are things such as checking the stove a certain number of times to make sure it is off, or tapping their finger a number of times just because it makes them feel better.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment developed by Marsha M. Linehan for the treatment of complex, difficult-to-treat mental disorders. Originally, DBT was developed to treat individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD; Carson-Wong, Rizvi, & Steffel, 2013; Scheel, 2000). However, DBT has evolved into a treatment for multi-disordered individuals with BPD. In addition, DBT has been adapted for the treatment of other behavioral disorders involving emotional dysregulation, for example, substance abuse, binge eating, and for settings, such as inpatient and partial hospitalization. Dimeff and Linehan (2001) described five functions involved in comprehensive DBT treatment. The first function DBT serves is enhancing behavioral capabilities. Secondly, it improves motivation to change by modifying inhibitions and reinforcement. Third, it assures that new capabilities can be generalize to the natural environment. Fourth, DBT structures the treatment environment in the ways essential to support client and therapist capabilities. Finally, DBT enhances therapist capabilities and motivation to treat clients effectively. In standard DBT, these functions are divided into modes for treatment (Dimeff & Linehan, Dialectical behavior therapy in a nutshell, 2001).
Coles, M. E., Schofield, C. A., & Pietrefesa, A. S. (2006). Behavioral inhibition and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Anxiety Disorders, 20, 1118-1132. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.03.003
The DSM-V was very useful in aiding to diagnose Howie Mandel with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The diagnostic criteria listed in the DSM-V for this disease states that obsessions and/or compulsions must be present. In the case of Mandel, both of these aspects are present as mentioned above. Mandel displayed obsessive thoughts concerning germs along with associated obsessions to refrain from contact with germs and compulsions such rechecking locked doors. Another criteria is that these obsessions/compulsions be time consuming which I also discussed above. The several symptoms that Mandel displayed did not seem to fit any other disease listed in the DSM-V.
undiagnosed. Patients obsessively wash, check something or hoard things to relieve themselves of an overwhelming anxiety, and are fully aware their behavior is abnormal. This research studies a 23-year-old married woman who sought treatment for a severe washing and cleaning problem and how the patient was treated. I will discuss how the patient was diagnosed, and treated with a form of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy or CBT (exposure and response treatment) and what medications can be used for treatment.
The protagonist in the film As Good As It Gets, Melvin Udall is a successful romantic novelist who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. From the onset of the film, Melvin displays ritualistic behavior that aligns with the diagnostic criteria for OCD, specifically the presence of obsessions, compulsions, or both. This paper focuses on Melvin’s particular psychopathology, analyzing the character’s current symptoms and diagnoses, the etiology of the disorder, and the key elements of his treatment.
The types of treatment he takes part in include: going to a psychiatrist regularly, talking to himself to encourage himself, taking medication, and reading a book that Leo recommended about setting small, reasonable goals. Everything that Bob does to try to lessen his disorder is very typical for people with anxiety problems because it does really work, and Bob is proof because his problems mostly fade away. If people who have anxiety problems similar to Bob, I truly think that if they look at Bob’s character as an example, they can overcome their problems of anxiety.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disease that a lot of people suffer with in society especially young adults. While it is not a disease that is deadly, it does affect the victim in every day aspects of their life and can ultimately control their lives. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health as, “… a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over”. The thoughts that individuals have when suffering through Obsessive Compulsive Disorder cannot be restrained and really can disturb the individual. Thoughts or actions that people may have can range from worrying about daily occurrences, such as washing their hands, to having thoughts of harming people that are close to them. People tend to have these reoccurring compulsions because they believe by doing them or thinking them, they will either prevent something bad from happening or because it eliminates stress that they have. This disease can last a lifetime and can be very detrimental and disabling to how one lives their lives. Individuals can start to see signs of OCD in either late adolescence or even early adulthood and everyone is susceptible. When it comes to classifying this incurable disease, there is much debate on whether or not it a type of anxiety (Abramowitz, Taylor, & McKay, 2009). It is important to be able to understand this mental disorder since so many people are diagnosed with it. While there are treatments for OCD, there are no cures yet. Treatments could range anywhere from taking prescribed medication to just going to therapy and counseling fo...
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) is also often paired with systematic desensitization. CBT is focused on regaining control of reactions to stress and stimuli, ultimately reducing the feeling of helplessness (Palazzolo, 2014). One specific case of Psychotherapeutic Treatment for Aquaphobia takes a closer look at the break down of how systematic desensitization would be applied. Initially, the patient would be given information on their phobia, making it seem as unthreatening as possible and by showing them that they are not alone, as this disorder is common and that there is a cognitive approach to treat their condition. You first explain to the patient step by step the therapy that is going to take place. You ask them to carefully watch themselves throughout each situation and take notice at what parts they find challenging or lead them to avoidance. It is also suggested that the patients rates her anxiety during those situations on a scale from 1-10. The duration of this therapy would be approximately 13 sessions, meeting once a week for 30-45 minutes. The first three sessions are centered around their life and story of their disability, the diagnosis and the analysis of the disorder while working out a review of each sessions and what their ultimate goal