In As Good as It Gets, the main character Mr. Melvin Eudoll is diagnosed with Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). During the course of this essay, Melvin’s symptoms will be explained, firstly in terms of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000), and then in terms of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). The DSM-IV-TR classified mental disorders according to five axes. OCD was categorized under Axis I, labeled Clinical Disorders. More specifically it was categorized as an Anxiety disorder. OCD was classified as an anxiety disorder because of the anxiety and distress that …show more content…
This can be determined by observing his environment such as his apartment. During the course of the movie, one can see that all his personal belongings are organized and in neatly stacked piles. There is one scene that shows his organization distinctively, and that is when we see that his jars of sweets are separated according to color (As Good as It Gets, 1997). As for control, Melvin has a strict daily routine and his bodily language shows that he becomes extremely uncomfortable and anxious when his routine has changed. For example, when he cannot sit at his usual table at the restaurant he becomes obnoxious and extremely anxious, and immediately calms down once he has sat at his usual table. Another portrayal of his obsession over control is shown when his usual waitress, known as Carol, is not at work one day, and he becomes aggressive with the new waitress. His obsession is so severe that he goes to Carol’s home, and demands to know why she wasn’t at work and is steadfast on letting her know how much it had inconvenienced him by interrupting his routine. He then pays for a private doctor to take care of her ill son, so that she can come back to work, and insists that she come back to work the next day (As Good as It Gets, 1997). Melvin’s daily routine gives him a sense of control, and this may be extremely important to him because he feels as if he has no control over his other …show more content…
Melvin’s obsessions and compulsions are excessively time-consuming, they exceed much more than one hour per day. For example, because of Melvin’s obsession about the fear of contamination, he showers in very hot water for a much longer period of time than an average person would (As Good as It Gets, 1997). Furthermore, Melvin’s obsessions and compulsions have also caused him a significant amount of distress and impairment in his social functioning. Melvin becomes significantly distressed when his routine is interrupted by external causes, as well as when the waitress touches his clean utensils (As Good as It Gets, 1997). One can also see that Melvin has no friends or family, and is incapable of developing social connections with others because of his erratic behaviour and aggressiveness. Only once Melvin starts taking his medication and his symptoms begin to subside does he allow others the opportunity to become close to him. He begins to reduce his hostility, ill-mannered and harsh behaviour toward others, which helps him to become more caring. Therefore one can see that it is his OCD tendencies that cause him to be harsh and prevent him from attaining any type of social
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a pattern of recurring obsessions and compulsions that are severe enough to be time consuming and interfere with a person’s daily functioning. They must cause marked distress (such as pain or physical harm to the person) or significant impairment. Usually, they take more than
Mr. Unger is approximately 55 years-old, is Caucasian-American, and recently separated from his wife with whom he has two school-aged children. He dresses impeccably in pressed suits and polished shoes. He is clean cut and shaven. His hair is cut short and is neatly parted to one side. He has a rigid and stiff posture. He displays rigidity in his thought content which are manifested in preoccupations with cleanliness and his family affairs. He is inflexible in his personality. His wife recently separated from him and called him “impossible to live with.” During their relationship he displayed a huge need to be in control by doing things such as re-cooking a meal she made because he felt he could do a better job or obsessive cleaning their apartment and complaining when she was messy. While he loved her very much and had a sense that he was annoying her, he is so inflexible in his personality that he was unable to make changes. Mr. Unger’s mood is normally elevated due to his obsessive-compulsive nature. He is generally pre-occupied with his job,
Melvin takes his obsession of being clean to extremes; this is a very common manifestation of someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder. When Melvin goes out for breakfast he takes his own plastic utensils wrapped inside of a plastic bag, because he thinks that the silverware at the diner are not clean enough for him. This is another example of his fear of contamination.
Mental disorders can hinder a person’s ability to make proper decisions and therefore influence their lifestyle, behavior, and actions in most situations. Triggered by Fletcher Wortmann is a memoir about the negative effects of obsessive compulsive disorder can have on a person. The mental state of a person with obsessive compulsive disorder is one of uncertainty most of the time. Though a mental disorder determined many decisions in his life so far, his goal is to prove that mental disorders do not define who a person is. Through long stories about things that typically wouldn’t matter to an average person, it is clearly evident Wortmann is a male author who is very young, but also not as experienced. There is a specific writing style to
For this paper I have chosen obsessive compulsive disorder. According to psychologytoday.com, (2017), “Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, images, and sensations (obsessions) and engage in behaviors or mental acts in response to these thoughts or obsessions.” This topic is one that I find very fascinating, because half of the population may not realize they are suffering from this disorder, including myself.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is a disease that many people know of, but few people know about. Many people associate repeated washing of hands, or flicking of switches, and even cleanliness with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), however there are many more symptoms, and there are also explanations for those symptoms. In this paper, I will describe what obsessive compulsive disorder is, explain some of the effects of it, and explain why it happens. I will also attempt to prove that while medication doesn’t cure OCD, it vastly improves one’s quality of life. Furthermore I intend to show that behavior therapy (cognitive based therapy) is another useful tool in helping a person to overcome their OCD.
This essay will introduce some similarities and differences between both symptoms and experiences of six different authors who have been personally affected by obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Since OCD is not very well understood by many members of the public ("Escape"), I hope that the experiences of the authors that I researched will be able to paint a vivid picture of what life with OCD is like.
As time has progressed, light has been shed on the causes and symptoms of mental disorders. Like many mental disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder was once linked to dissociation with religious beliefs. In the seventeenth century OCD was seen as a symptom of being isolated from religion and religious practices. It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that obsessive-compulsive disorder began to be recognized as a mental disorder unrelated to religion. The route to this recognition began as stated by Koran (2007) by distinguishing obsessions from delusions and compulsions from impulsions. The source of the disorder, however, was still a matter to be argued on. The idea that OCD was a result of any level of insanity was disregarded after the mid-eighteen hundreds. For the most part, French psychiatrists believed it was a result of an emotional distress and “volitional” defects but not before placing it in a very broad spectrum of many other phobias we see today. German Psychiatrists, on the other hand, associated OCD with an issue on the intellectual level and as Magnan (1835-1916) put it, OCD was the “psychosis of degeneration.”
In the movie another detail that surprised me is when Melvin would eat at the restaurant. He would arrange his silverware and plate and placemat over and over and over again. This was another detail about the OCD disorder that I found fascinating. I feel that this is unusual but for the disorder that makes sense. It relates to the routine and structure in which Melvin must have everything a certain way.
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.
Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD) has been in existence for many years. Debilitating it’s sufferers from partaking in activities they may enjoy because of both the sufferers obsessions and compulsions causing them to feel somewhat outcast from their fellow members of society. In this essay symptoms of OCD will be outlined; also the most empirically researched method of treatment Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), along with the process involved in treating a patient with this kind of therapy. The mistakes made by practitioners in the implementation of this treatment will be addressed. Also, pharmacotherapy will be briefly analysed as a means of improving efficacy. It will be concluded that Exposure Response Prevention treatment in
Marvin Udall displays typical behaviors that many functioning obsessive compulsives have in common. Mr. Udall has obsessions which are, “persistent thoughts, urges that are experienced as intrusive and unwanted, whereas compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts that an individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession (American Psychiatric Association., 2013).” Very early in the film we see Mr. Udall struggles with contamination-related obsessions and participates in ritualistic activities which serve to lessen his obsessional anxiety. We see him engage in hand washing rituals with extremely hot water and several bars of soap which is only intrusive to him, to later in the film where he must take a shower before dinner and has the character Carol waiting on him for what seemed like hours. Mr. Udall has a ritual to eat at a certain restaurant everyday for breakfast, where he also must bring his own plastic silverware for fear of germs.
“In people with (OCD) obsessive- compulsive disorder, there is an excessive need for orderliness and attention to detail, perfectionism, as well as overly rigid ways of relating to others (Nevid and Rathus 293).” Martin is a very demanding individual and has an obsession to have everything in order. For examples, towels have to be evenly spaced with the same length on the towel rack and canned foods have to face label forward, as well as neatly stacked in the cabinet. Martin’s overall main crisis is his obsession with his wife, Laura, is he cannot live without her and he won’t let her live without him. He
Obsessive compulsive disorder is a common psychological disorder that is often associated with misconstrued stereotypes. OCD is considered an anxiety disorder consisting of obsessions that are often combined with compulsions. These obsessions are usually recurrent and persistent specific thoughts and be urges. Compulsions make up the second part of OCD. They are repetitive behaviors performed according to rigid rules that are completed in an attempt to help prevent obsessions from becoming true. The compulsions are maintained by negative reinforcement meaning that the patient continues to perform the compulsions because the obsessions are prevented. This idea forces the patient to continue the vicious cycle of performing compulsions to prevent
Melvin fits the criteria for OCD through displaying mental acts, repetitive behaviors, and exhibiting symmetry obsessions. Most noticeably Melvin manifest mental acts. For instance, Melvin opens, closes, unlocks and locks every door encountered exactly five times. Moreover, Melvin performs a homologous routine flipping light switches on and off precisely five times. Additionally, Melvin moves both feet in a triangular formation before slipping on shoes. Furthermore, Melvin sits at the same table at the same restaurant daily. After meeting Carol, Melvin extends this pattern insisting to always have Carol as a server.