Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a brain disorders were a person will do some daily activities multiple times. [When someone does the same activity for multiple times in the same day and then to repeatedly do the activity multiple times a week.] People suffering from OCD have a routine that they use to keep themselves on paths to function in the society around them. Though to most people the rituals that a person suffering from OCD does it so that they are able to cope in society. To many in society the behavior that is displayed by people suffering from OCD is that too which they think is that behavior of a individual that is in their mind crazy. To be diagnosed with OCD a person has to talk to a practicing physician and their symptoms or the way they act must match those in the DSM-IV. There are many types of disorders, but the seven most common OCD are the checkers, washers and cleaners, repeaters, orders, hoarders, thinking ritualizes, worriers and pure obsessionals. (DSM-IV 456) The people displaying the checker symptom have to check items like the stove is off even if that over 30 times in 30min and a washer is some who repeatedly cleans their hands for germs for and extended time. While a order has to have their house in the most pristine condition and a hoarder is some one who can not get rid of any thing they own.
Over the last decade OCD has become more wildly known and popularized thanks to the shows like Monk. In the show Monk there is a private detective that has multiple disorders one of which is OCD and the need to complete random rituals that in his mind allowed him to function in society. After the death of Monk’s wife he suffers a nervous breakdown where he is unable to continue his job at the police force. Throughout the series Monk is using is supposed disability to his advantage to solve challenging and difficult cases. One condition that persists in a person with OCD are the compulsions which Monk displays in the series. He must repeatedly washes his hands and has to touch everything he passes. The behavior that is displayed in Monk is on the extreme side of the spectrum for OCD. With the public shown Hollywood’s perception of what OCD is that any one with milder case of OCD by medical standards can be thought of by some as being as extreme as Monk.
With people always needing an explanation for their behavior and those of their friends are in need of some way to explain their behavior. “We seem unable to acknowledge that we simply don’t know. The needs for diagnosis and remediation of behavioral and emotional problems are enormous” (Adler 136). In Reading in deviant behavior the story by Adler is very intuitive in the understand of what people believe. Most people are in need of some activity to help them understand why they act a certain way. Understanding oneself for anyone is a challenge and for someone to be diagnosed with a disorder makes harder for them to truly understand themselves. Not being able to fully understand why they act the way they do in society. One of the most effective therapy treatment is cognitive-behavioral therapy. This treatment requires the subject to be exposed to the obsession along with teach a person a healthy and effective way to responded to obsessive thoughts.
OCD can be perceived as a “Disability can serve as a master status and can carry with it stigma”(Taylor 173). Having OCD as a person’s master status makes it seem that there is less chance to considered a contributing member to society . By having a master status of a disability or a mental disorder people face the thought of being judged by people have of them and the ideas the come up with over time and what they see from the behavior displayed by the individuals. By being perceived as having a disability even though it may be considered a mental disorder some people can be aliened from society for having a different way of going through life. If you look at the story of Emanuel who grew up with a father that did not believe his son to be different but when people at Emanuel said there be a problem his father decided to home school Emanuel and his so later found out he had ADHD but was able to function in society with little interference. After talking to a physiologist he was told he Had ADHD but was only give lessons in social interaction which were to his advantage. Emanuel was a boy if the government had its way in school he would have been placed in a slow learning class room and probably would have been unable to achieve a college degree.
Attach is an audio clip of Emanuels story.
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American Physiological Association, “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder “, American Physiological Association, Washington DC , 456-463
Adler A. Patricia, Reading in Deviant Behavior, Allyn & Bacon Pearson, Bosten MA, Ch 20
Taylor J Steven Reading in Deviant Behavior, Allyn & Bacon Pearson, Bosten MA, CH 26
Disagree
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the stigmatization that individuals with OCD have, I believe it is a disorder that is as overused as it is misapplied. Many people that don't have OCD think they do in my experience, and vice versa. However, unlike other mental illnesses OCD can have benefits in some professions and proficiencies, and it is therefore not seen as negatively as other illnesses. Furthermore, a few people that I know and have been diagnosed OCD are contributing members to society and don't take the medication they are administered because they like how they are.
Your point is well taken that mental illnesses can easily become your master status, but with mild cases of OCD the general public would not notice.
- Disagree/Do Better
ReplyDeleteNice explanation of the illness, but I believe you could have done better if you tied it more under the context of deviance instead of looking at it briefly. Perhaps you could have talked about Rosenhan's article "Being Sane in Insane Places", pointing out that once you have been labeled, you will be forever regarded as crazy no matter how "normal" you are currently.
I'd also like to point out that individuals with OCD don't seen to have that much of a "heavy" social stigma. Like the character in the Monk show (I haven't watched it), we can presume that he is a productive person because he is a detector, a contributing member of our society. He just has these quirks that people find odd (his OCD).
To add, some may even want the OCD label to justify their actions, like how drunk people blame their out of ordinary actions on alcohol in the article "Hey Don't Blame Me...Blame the Booze" by Peralta.
- Vanise Leong
References
Thio, Alex, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers. 2010. Readings in Deviant Behavior. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Disagree/Do Better
ReplyDeleteI think overall you do a good job explaining what OCD is but when it is tied to Hollywood does it make the disease cool to have or do we still view it deviant by society's standard. I think you started to tie OCD to Emanuel's diagnosis but it seems to just cut off. OCD I believe is glamorized by movies such as "As Good as it Gets", Monk and shows such as Hoarders or my Strange Addiction. I think of OCD much like we view obesity in this country, if a person is wealthy and overweight then it's not so much of an issue as someone who is poor. Much like a person who has OCD that is wealthy may be considered eccentric not a person with a mental illness. In the article, "The Stigma of Obesity" I am reminded of Bertha's story where she is trapped in the booth, we view OCD as more of a show and although it is considered "less than normal" it is not as demonized as other mental illnesses.