While reading chapter 1 we learn about how much the word “obsession” has evolved over time. Davis goes over the different types of meanings the word has had throughout the chapter. He dissects the words obsession and compulsion. He describes the obsession as being a “battle” which interestingly is the way I describe it as well. Davis speaks about the word when it was used to describe times of being at war and other times when it was used to describe demonic possession. I feel as if the reasoning for him to fill us in on the timeline of meanings the word has had was to help his readers better understand the word as a whole. It is crazy to read about all of the descriptions just one word has held over time. It just goes to show how people in specific days and ages believe different things and also react to things differently. The word will probably continue to change as the years go on as people learn more about it and its qualities.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
The "Rat Man" OCD at its Worst
After reading about Freuds experience with the "Rat Man" I was filled with nothing other than sadness to read about someone living such a tormenting life. Freud explains how a story told to the man by an officer about the treatment of criminals in prison affected the way he began to live his life. The officer told him that the inmates would have rats placed on their back sides and then covered with a pot. The rats had no way of escaping the darkness of the pot other than to eat through the anus of the prisoner. This chilling and gruesome story sent the "rat man" into a life filled with fear. My heart went out to this man because something that shouldn't have really affected him so harshly, did. He began having the ideas of such treatment happen to a woman he deeply admired and his father being harmed as well. He felt if he didn't live his life the "right" way then such treatment would be the punishment for the people he held close to his heart. Ironically we learn that the "rat mans" father was dead, so why was he in such fear of his father being hurt in any way? It was because he was so traumatized his mind began to wander and take over his life as he knew it. He even went as far as talking about getting in trouble for masturbating as a child and it haunting him as well, which I interpreted as the start of his fear of punishment. Things that happened way before hearing the officers story began to resurface and inject even more fear into the "rat mans" life.
This passage really showed me how bad OCD can get hence my title: "OCD at its Worst". I used such a title because even though I'm sure there are much more severe cases of OCD, I found it completely out of "left field" for the "rat man" to feel like he was going to endure the same treatment. He wasn't a criminal and didn't do anything to which he needed to be so harshly punished. But yet, he still led his life walking on egg shells to avoid the worst. I learn more and more about OCD everyday and feel more and more bad for the victims that live their lives trying to tolerate and live with it.
This passage really showed me how bad OCD can get hence my title: "OCD at its Worst". I used such a title because even though I'm sure there are much more severe cases of OCD, I found it completely out of "left field" for the "rat man" to feel like he was going to endure the same treatment. He wasn't a criminal and didn't do anything to which he needed to be so harshly punished. But yet, he still led his life walking on egg shells to avoid the worst. I learn more and more about OCD everyday and feel more and more bad for the victims that live their lives trying to tolerate and live with it.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sherry...
Out of the four cases of the different types of OCD that Osborn discusses, I found Sherry's story to be the most severe. Sherrys OCD was so bad that she began to have thoughts of harming others around her including her husband, friends and even strangers. She even had thoughts of killing her daughter by placing her in the microwave. I could have never imagined that OCD would take over a persons mind so much that it can make you want to hurt others. Sherry did a good job at trying to tolerate and lessen the severity of this disorder by seeking help. Its very sad because it makes it very hard to go about your everyday life because one might always be afraid they are going to hurt other people around them. Osborn says that most people keep OCD hidden because it doesnt stop them from going about their lives. However, in Sherry's case it did make it harder to go about her life: at home and outside, there was no where she could go to save herself from these tormenting thoughts. After reading her story I gained a new respect for the victims of OCD because it is a very overpowering disorder. Anyone living with OCD has a very tough and sometimes long battle to try and relieve it. Therefore instead of being looked at as awkward or weird they should be respected and we should try and help them in any way we can.
Monday, September 5, 2011
My Dear Josephine
In Napoleon's letter to his wife I feel as if he is indeed obsessed. He lets the idea that she is being unfaithful overcome him and take over his sense of reasoning. She calls him "Voux" in her letter and he immediately thinks the worst. Even though he has no solid proof he feels that because she left a gap between letters and her recent letter was so short she has a lover. He should know his wife and if he never had a reason to feel that she couldnt be trusted he shouldnt feel that way at all. Before thinking the worst he should have asked why she said what she said. He is obsessed because he is letting one word eat away at his soul, and it is therefore stopping him from fulfilling his duties to the best of his abilities. He is threatening his own life over one simple little word. Its okay to wonder or think a little negative but, he shouldnt threaten his life or anyones for that matter. No matter how much he may now try to avoid thinking she is being unfaithful he already let his mind take over and I feel as if nothing she could have said back to him would change how he felt from there on out.
Tormenting Thoughts & Secret Rituals
After reading the piece by Osborn I had gained a new understanding of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). I felt that it was a smart idea for him to discuss his own experiences with the disorder because even though there were some facts gained by research stated, there was also true evidence to support the facts. By him being a doctor and describing his thoughts and feelings showed that such a disorder really is more common then people may think, it can happen to anyone. At first I just thought OCD was based on what I would call a "ritual-based" life. I thought any sufferer of such a disorder would be someone that excessively cleans or turns the door knob 15 times before finally opening up the door.
Osborn explains his experience with OCD as "Terrifying and tormenting thoughts." He breaks down the disorder into two seperate ideas. From his point of view the obsessive aspect of his disorder was the tormenting thoughts that would jump into his head out of no where. The ideas that he would think of in order to forget about or change the bad thoughts fall under the compulsive side of the disorder. He explains how many victims of this disorder hide it from everyone around them because of the fear of being looked at differently from everyone else. Since most people that suffer from OCD can still go about their daily lives they choose to keep it concealed from the outside world. The treatment and diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder has come a long way as well. Many believed that OCD was an illness that had no cure. Everything from antidepressants to shock therapy were used as "treatment" for the disorder. Once seen as a common disorder most of these treatments subsided.
In the second part of the reading, Osborn breaks the word obsession into four sub categories: filth, harm, lust and blasphemy in which he used four different patients as examples for each. Raymond, was a older man in his 40's with a tough looking exterior but soft friendly core. He would be the example for the first category, filth. Raymond explained how he felt his hands were so infected that he would wash them all hours of the day, sometimes until they bled. He would have bloody images of people enter his mind which would drive him insane when he was behind the wheel of a car. Raymonds way of coping a treating his illness was to force himself to live with "dirty" hands and drive around for hours. Eventually his rituals became worse after a trip to Disney World and were taking up much of his time. His obsessions of being poisoned would become so severe that eventually he would pester his children about what they were eating or drinking in fear that they too would be harmed. This led his wife to persuade him to get help. Sherry would be the patient example for the category of harm. She suffered from having thoughts of harming and even killing others. Whether it was herself, strangers or family, no one was spared from her mind and its urge to kill. These thoughts all began one night while babysitting her cousin, where she had the idea of slashing the baby up with a knife. She tried her best to keep herself busy in order to fill her mind with other thoughts. She eventually was given antidepressants and had a lot of support from her husband. However once she felt like she was finally beginning to get better her husband got a new job in Pennsylvania and they had to relocate, and sadly the OCD followed her there.
For the third category of Lust we meet Jeff. Jeff was a thirty year old school teacher well-dressed and well-spoken. He described his disorder as "A voice in his head that keeps saying really awful things." He explains that the voice says that he is a homosexual pervert which he makes clear he is'nt. He also would have images come into his mind all based on sexual activities. Once OCD was thoroughly explained to Jeff he felt less lonely and more optimistic about his life.
Finally, we meet Melissa. She would be the example for the category of blasphemy. She was a freshman at Penn State University who, by her description, was being bombarded with questions in her mind. All of the questions had to do with what was wrong or right for her. She explains how her way of getting the questions to go away was to repeat verses of the Bible over and over. She began to feel as if she wasn't respecting her faith because of the reppetition. She began to question wether or not she was a true Christian or if she had lost all respect for her faith.
These four categories really painted a broader picture of the disorder in that it shows that there isnt just one characteristic of it. There is obsessive compulsive disorder as a whole but then it branches off into different types. I feel that by describing these different accounts of people with the disorders shows that even though some people may feel as if they are alone, they are'nt. He used real people with real-life experiences in order to describe each sub-category of OCD as well as show the innocence and realness of the disorder.
Osborn makes it clear that the term "Obsession" has a different meaning for health professionals studying it than for the general punlic. He states that we have made obsession become whatever we want it to be. We usually use it as a descriptive form of preoccupation. One may say "I am obsessed with buying shoes" which really just means she buys a lot of shoes. Does it mean she thinks about it every second of everyday? Not necessarilly but she is fond of them and therefore, in her mind, is obsessed. He says that the type of obsession he and the four people he met with suffered from were clinical obsessions which in straight terms means "A battle in the mind." He describes all different types of OCD and their characteristics which I find to be very broad. OCD is a very interesting disorder that many misjudge to be phsycotic thoughts or hallucinations. However, we must now look at the bigger picture and begin to try our best to help others around us of whom are suffering from this disorder cope and tolerate it.
Osborn explains his experience with OCD as "Terrifying and tormenting thoughts." He breaks down the disorder into two seperate ideas. From his point of view the obsessive aspect of his disorder was the tormenting thoughts that would jump into his head out of no where. The ideas that he would think of in order to forget about or change the bad thoughts fall under the compulsive side of the disorder. He explains how many victims of this disorder hide it from everyone around them because of the fear of being looked at differently from everyone else. Since most people that suffer from OCD can still go about their daily lives they choose to keep it concealed from the outside world. The treatment and diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder has come a long way as well. Many believed that OCD was an illness that had no cure. Everything from antidepressants to shock therapy were used as "treatment" for the disorder. Once seen as a common disorder most of these treatments subsided.
In the second part of the reading, Osborn breaks the word obsession into four sub categories: filth, harm, lust and blasphemy in which he used four different patients as examples for each. Raymond, was a older man in his 40's with a tough looking exterior but soft friendly core. He would be the example for the first category, filth. Raymond explained how he felt his hands were so infected that he would wash them all hours of the day, sometimes until they bled. He would have bloody images of people enter his mind which would drive him insane when he was behind the wheel of a car. Raymonds way of coping a treating his illness was to force himself to live with "dirty" hands and drive around for hours. Eventually his rituals became worse after a trip to Disney World and were taking up much of his time. His obsessions of being poisoned would become so severe that eventually he would pester his children about what they were eating or drinking in fear that they too would be harmed. This led his wife to persuade him to get help. Sherry would be the patient example for the category of harm. She suffered from having thoughts of harming and even killing others. Whether it was herself, strangers or family, no one was spared from her mind and its urge to kill. These thoughts all began one night while babysitting her cousin, where she had the idea of slashing the baby up with a knife. She tried her best to keep herself busy in order to fill her mind with other thoughts. She eventually was given antidepressants and had a lot of support from her husband. However once she felt like she was finally beginning to get better her husband got a new job in Pennsylvania and they had to relocate, and sadly the OCD followed her there.
For the third category of Lust we meet Jeff. Jeff was a thirty year old school teacher well-dressed and well-spoken. He described his disorder as "A voice in his head that keeps saying really awful things." He explains that the voice says that he is a homosexual pervert which he makes clear he is'nt. He also would have images come into his mind all based on sexual activities. Once OCD was thoroughly explained to Jeff he felt less lonely and more optimistic about his life.
Finally, we meet Melissa. She would be the example for the category of blasphemy. She was a freshman at Penn State University who, by her description, was being bombarded with questions in her mind. All of the questions had to do with what was wrong or right for her. She explains how her way of getting the questions to go away was to repeat verses of the Bible over and over. She began to feel as if she wasn't respecting her faith because of the reppetition. She began to question wether or not she was a true Christian or if she had lost all respect for her faith.
These four categories really painted a broader picture of the disorder in that it shows that there isnt just one characteristic of it. There is obsessive compulsive disorder as a whole but then it branches off into different types. I feel that by describing these different accounts of people with the disorders shows that even though some people may feel as if they are alone, they are'nt. He used real people with real-life experiences in order to describe each sub-category of OCD as well as show the innocence and realness of the disorder.
Osborn makes it clear that the term "Obsession" has a different meaning for health professionals studying it than for the general punlic. He states that we have made obsession become whatever we want it to be. We usually use it as a descriptive form of preoccupation. One may say "I am obsessed with buying shoes" which really just means she buys a lot of shoes. Does it mean she thinks about it every second of everyday? Not necessarilly but she is fond of them and therefore, in her mind, is obsessed. He says that the type of obsession he and the four people he met with suffered from were clinical obsessions which in straight terms means "A battle in the mind." He describes all different types of OCD and their characteristics which I find to be very broad. OCD is a very interesting disorder that many misjudge to be phsycotic thoughts or hallucinations. However, we must now look at the bigger picture and begin to try our best to help others around us of whom are suffering from this disorder cope and tolerate it.
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