Let Them Eat Flax! by Dr. Joe Schwarcz

Author:Dr. Joe Schwarcz [Schwarcz, Dr. Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SCI013000
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2005-11-11T06:00:00+00:00

OBSESSIONS AND COMPULSIONS

Cats do not climb into washing machines. Nor do they take refuge in dishwashers, ovens, or refrigerators. The young chemistry graduate student knew this full well. Yet he was unable to turn on his washing machine before checking over and over again to make sure one of his pet cats had not wandered inside. He couldn’t take food out of his fridge without repeatedly opening and closing the door until he was convinced that a cat had not accidentally become trapped. Of course he knew that this behavior made no sense at all. Nevertheless, he was compelled by some inner force to check and recheck. Such is the bizarre nature of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD.

Can you imagine a twelve year old having to touch a door-knob in his room exactly 375 times before being able to go outside, or a teenager doing sit-ups, unable to stop, sometimes screaming in pain, until he had completed a self-prescribed number? How about the lady who saw a cockroach run across the floor of a supermarket, and for the next fourteen years, washed all her groceries—as well as everything else she brought into the house—in an attempt to protect herself from germs? Or the man who scrubbed his hands as many as fifty times a day, unable to stop, even though they were inflamed and bleeding? What about the teenager who couldn’t help counting everything he came across: telephone poles, passengers in passing cars, letters on signs, or words in a sentence? These things are unimaginable— except, of course, to those suffering from OCD. Then they are very real—real enough to destroy lives.

First, a couple of definitions are in order. Obsessions are unwanted, unreasonable, intrusive thoughts that can poison virtually every waking moment. Fear of contamination by germs, fear of accidentally doing harm to others, and a fear that terrible things will happen if something is left undone are typical examples. Compulsions are rituals that are performed in some hapless attempt to gain relief from obsessive thoughts. A sixty-year-old man, for example, suddenly developed an obsession about garbage on the street, and became convinced that if he did not pick up every bit he encountered, some horrific calamity would befall him. He began to collect whatever he could in garbage bags, which he then stored in his house. He eventually lost his job because he was spending so much time picking up garbage that he never made it to work. This gentleman was intelligent, totally aware of the ridiculous nature of his activity, but was powerless to do anything about it. So was the sixty-five year old who spent some twenty-five years trying to sneak a peek at other men’s penises. He had no homosexual urges at all, but was obsessed by the thought that his life would be destroyed if he did not meet his daily quota. Sometimes he would have to drive from truck stop to truck stop, waiting in the bathroom, to try to glimpse a view. Relief came only when he met his quota.

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