On occasion there are individuals, such as Howard Hughes, who are plagued by intrusive thoughts, ritualistic behaviors, or mental acts in which they feel compelled to entertain. Individuals such as this suffer from a psychological disorder known as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). “According to factor analytic research, OC symptoms have been linked to three main dimensions of dysfunctional beliefs: the over importance of and need to control thoughts (ICT), perfectionism and the intolerance of uncertainty (PC), and the inflated responsibility and overestimation of threats (RT).” (Taylor, Afifi, Stein, Asmundson, & Jang, 2010) Two of these dysfunctional beliefs, perfectionism and the overestimation of threats, are seen within Mr. Hughes character. In addition, Hughes displays episodes of anxiety, noticeably linked to his overly estimated potential of threats, such is demonstrated with is belief that “spies are in his midst.” Disorders linked to the Obsessive-Compulsive spectrum have several plausible etiologies, including psychosocial experiences (such as parent-child relations or traumatic life events) and genetic vulnerabilities (such as genetic heredity, perinatal injuries, or infections).
The presence of socially learned behaviors experienced during childhood modeled from significant figures in their lives has been reported as precursors of OC symptoms. (Villemarette-Pittman et al. 2004) “Evidence provided by Cavedo, Parker, and colleagues (1994) illustrates that overly protective parenting will lead to the development of OCD in children.” (Smari, Martinsson, & Einarsson, 2010) At the start of the movie, one is presented with a dramatic and powerful image of Howard Hughes as a youth being bathed by his mothe...
... middle of paper ...
...atry Review, 6(2), 50-54.
Smari, J., Martinsson, D. R., & Einarsson, H. (2010). Development and aging:
Rearing practices and impulsivity/hyperactivity symptoms in relation to inflated responsibility and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Scandinavian
Journal of Psychology, 2010(51), 391-397.
Taylor, S., Afifi, T. O., Stein, M. B., Asmundson, G. J. G., & Jang, K. L. (2010).
Etiology of obsessive beliefs: A behavioral-genetic analysis. Journal of
Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 24(3), 177-184.
Thyer, B. A., & Pignotti, M. (2011). Guidelines for the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder. Best Practices in Mental Health, 7(2), 84-91.
Villemarette-Pittman, N. R., Stanford, M. S., Greve, K. W., Houston, R. J., &
Mathias, C. (2004). Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and behavioral disinhibition. The Journal of Psychology, 138(1), 5-22.
Ramachandria, C. T., Subramanyan, N., Bar, K. J., Baker, G., & Yeragani, V. K. (n.d.).
Tadić, A., Wagner, S., Hoch, J., Başkaya, Ö., von Cube, R., Skaletz, C., ... & Dahmen, N. (2009).
Zhang, Y. B., Harwood, J., Williams, A., Ylänne-McEwen, V., Wadleigh, P. M., & Thimm, C.
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.
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...
Tackett, J. L., Lahey, B. B., van Hulle, C., Waldman, I., Krueger, R. F., & Rathouz, P. J. (2013).
Randal initially sought a psychological assessment for the presenting problem of depression. He began by stating that he had been having a difficult time with simple tasks and was easily overwhelmed. After further questioning, Randal began to elaborate on some of the thoughts that occupied his time and led to difficulty concentrating. He was constantly absorbed in anxiety about himself, or his family, coming into contact with a microbial disease. This thought pattern led to him compulsively washing his hands, obsessively cleaning surfaces and doorknobs, and throwing out perfectly fine clothing due to fear of contamination. He went on to further state that he often avoided places due to anxiety about their cleanliness. Also, Randal explained that often just when thinking about dirt and germs, he would take a shower, as a result of feeling contaminated. When prompted, Randal intimated that this behavior has occurred for several years, but recently has begun to interrupt his day-to-day functioning.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type of anxiety disorder that can be best characterized by the recurrent or disturbing thoughts that are labeled as obsessions. Sometime these obsessions can take on the form of intrusive images or the unwanted impulses. The compulsions can come from the repetitive or ritualized behaviors that a person feels driven to perform on a daily basis. The majority of people with the diagnosis of OCD can have both obsessions and compulsions, but most of the times about 20% have obsessions alone while 10% may have the compulsions alone (Goodman M.D., 2013) . Common types that have been illustrated in individual’s diagnoses with OCD can be characterized with concerns of contamination, safety or harm to themselves, unwanted acts of aggression, the unacceptable sexual or religious thoughts, and the need for symmetry or exactness. While some of the most common compulsion can be characterized as excessive cleaning, checking, ordering, and arranging rituals or the counting and repeating routines activities that are done sometimes on a daily basis multiple times in a day.
The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? I’m sure that most everyone has seen different news shows or talk shows where you see the person washing their hands until they bleed, or go back and forth into the house to double, triple, quadruple check something. A person may walk around their house making sure everything is “in its place” and not stop until a level of perfect is reached but often perfection in their eyes is never achieved. Magazines and books need to be parallel to the table they are on and of course the table must be parallel with the rest of the furniture in the room. These are just a few examples of behaviors that are demonstrated when a person has OCD.
1. Caldwell-Harris, C. L., Wilson, A. L., LoTempio, E., & Beit-Hallahmi, B. (2011). Exploring the
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.
Howard Hughes fulfills the DSM 5 criteria for OCD: The obsessions are repetitive and he tries unsuccessfully to repress his urges. His behaviors are compulsive and serve to reduce his anxiety. The obsessions and compulsions are time consuming. Additionally, they “are not attributable the physiological effects of a substance or other another medical condition” and “the disturbance is not better explained by the symptoms of another mental disorder” (Butcher et al., 2014, p.195). He also has symptoms that are characteristic of other disorders, such as bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia. He has bursts of energy and feels as though he could accomplish anything. He also claims that he can actually see the germs on his hands or faucets. The manic episodes and visual hallucinations are not DSM 5 criteria for OCD, rather they are symptoms of bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia respectively (Butcher et al., 2014, p.241, p.448). Therefore it is possible that Howard could have had OCD comorbid with bipolar I disorder with psychotic
Link, B. G., Struening, E. L., Neese-Todd, S., Asmussen, S., & Phelan, J. C. (2001). The
Timpano, K. R., Keough, M. E., Mahaffey, B., Schmidt, N. B., & Abramowitz, J. (2010).
Barker, V., Giles, H., Hajek, C., Ota, H., Noels, K., Lim, T-S., & Somera, L. (2008).