Sheldon Cooper's Obsessive-Compulsive Disor

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

Medicines are the second alternative and common treatment to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Antidepressants are often prescribed to treat OCD and are proven to be the most effective. Individuals are

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.

OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is the unwanted recurrent thoughts, actions, or impulses and repetitive behaviors and actions that a person feels driven to perform (Obsessive Compulsive Anonymous World Services, 1999). People suffering from OCD perform a variation of strange rituals everyday uncontrollably. There are different types of compulsive behavior people with OCD display. For example, hoarders fear that something bad will happen if they throw anything away or give anything away. They compulsively hoard things that they don not need or use. These victims of OCD can become obsessed with not only performing actions, but with keeping objects and possessions.

The fictional character I will be writing my paper on is Sheldon Cooper. Sheldon is a tall brilliant man in his mid-twenties from the CBS Television show The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon Cooper is a theoretical physicist at Caltech who shares an apartment with his best friend, Leonard Hofstadter. The show primarily takes place in their apartment where they are often visited by their two friends, Rajesh Koothrappali and Howard Wolowitz.

Obsessive-Compulsive disorder is a type of severe anxiety disorder that impacts an individual’s entire life and way of functioning. Obsessions are considered intrusive and recurrent thoughts or impulses that cannot be removed through reasoning. Compulsions are the repetitive and ritualistic behaviors and actions that associate with the obsessions. These compulsions are to be performed according to specific rules or methods and are thought to prevent or reduce stress and feared situations. Both compulsions and obsessions cause disabling levels of anxiety. The individual affected is often able to recognize the behavior as excessive and irrational, but is unable to control or stop the behaviors without intervention.

About 60% of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients have multiple obsessions. Not only does Melvin display behaviors associated with his fear of contamination, but also he presents compulsions under the symmetry/exactness/”just right” symptom subtype. This subtype deals specifically with the need for symmetry, in which things are put in a certain order and rituals are repeated. Melvin has very specific expectations of order in his daily routine. Every

With all these symptoms mentioned, and alterations within the body, there is a wide range of treatment that OCD patients can undergo. Unfortunately, OCD cannot be cured, and many researchers consider it to be a life-long disorder; however, its symptoms can be managed through the proper medication. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are used as part of treatment, as they reduce depression by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain. SSRI’s block the reuptake of serotonin, making more serotonin available for further use. Anti-depressants are also used when the patient reaches a point of helplessness, and possibly depression. On the other hand, anti-anxiety medication can also be utilized to help ease the patient’s anxiety when bombarded with discomforting obsessions that lead to compulsions. Exposure and response prevention therapy is utilized during cognitive-behavior therapy, where the psychologist or psychiatrist expose the patient to situations that provoke certain obsessions and anxiety, where the patient feels the urge to perform certain compulsions in order to reduce or end the anxiety he/she is feeling. The medical caregiver’s job is to help the patient overcome these obsessions by not performing the compulsions. The purpose of this type of therapy is to teach patients that abstaining from performing these compulsions will not result in these perceived harmful consequences (Abramowitz and Taylor, 2009). The therapy helps

Part 1 In the show, “The Big Bang Theory,” one of our main characters is Sheldon Cooper. One of the things that makes him so comedic and appealing to the viewer is his OCD behavior. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, people diagnosed with OCD “…feel the need to check things repeatedly, or have certain thoughts or perform routines and rituals over and over.”

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

In the hit TV series “The Big Bang Theory”, one of the most beloved characters is Sheldon Cooper. Sheldon is indeed a very complex individual. He has very unique tendencies -- he has to knock Penny's door a fixed number of times, he follows daily food routine that, when broken, brings distress to his life, and he only drinks hot chocolate during the months that contain the letter "r." His habits are often found humorous. However, what most of viewers don’t know is that all of those “habits”, are typical manifestations of a mental condition termed Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Although the exhibitions of this disease might seem a whimsical sham, this is a genuine condition that affects more than one in forty individuals, or approximately five million Americans (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).

A thorough analysis of Frannie’s indications presents that she is displaying symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a condition in which an individual has reoccurring, obsessions and compulsions (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2017). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has recently been updated to group together Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, and trichotillomania together and redefined the diagnoses of excoriating disorder and hoarding disorder. This new grouping is intended to help with the proper diagnosis and treatments of these conditions. (Gluck, 2017b) The symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder include the intrusive and obsessive thoughts. These thoughts can be displayed in a variety of things (Gluck, 2017a). For Frannie, this is prevalent in her fear of dirt and germs, and her preoccupation with neatness. It is also apparent in her fear of embarrassing herself and her family (“The Case of Frannie” n.d). The symptom of repetitive rituals such as checking locks, excessive cleaning, also indicates obsessive-compulsive disorder being Frannie’s condition. The fact that these thoughts and behaviors consume a

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disorder that causes someone to have unwanted and troubling thoughts and repetitive behaviors (Lack, 2012). People may self-diagnose themselves to be obsessive compulsive. But people with obsessive compulsive disorder need to spend at least 1 hour daily on obsessive thoughts and rituals (Ellyson, 2014). This disorder is broken into two parts. The first part is obsessions, thoughts or images, and the second part is compulsions, the repetitive behaviors caused by the obsessions (Brakoulias, 2015). An example of obsessive compulsive disorder would be someone checking the locked door multiple times to reduce anxiety about forgetting to lock the door. On average 5% of the population has subclinical symptoms which are considered to be symptoms that are not disruptive enough to meet criteria to be diagnosed obsessive compulsive (Lack, 2012). Dropping what you’re doing to go back and check if your curling iron is unplugged is an example of a subclinical symptom. This paper will discuss what obsessive compulsive disorder is and provide a brief history. It will also include current treatments, suggestions on how to treat the disorder, and a summary.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, is a mental health disorder have causes one to have overly aggressive obsessions and compulsions. Most 2.3% of the population between ages 18-54 suffer from OCD (“What Is OCD?”6). Many people think this is a common disorder, only because they think they have an idea of what is really is. The main questions people have are what it is, and how is it treated. There is also a big debate on whether OCD is a mental health issue or just a way of life.

Obsessive – Compulsion disorder is again another type of anxiety disorder characterized by repeated or uncontrollable thoughts and compulsions that seem to be impossible to stop or control. People that have OCD often do things such as washing their hands, checking, counting, and cleaning to avoid the obsessive thought. The causes of OCD are still being researched, but OCD is now being associated with neurobiology, but is no longer being associated with childhood experiences. OCD occupies 2 percent of the United States’ population in a given year. However OCD can be linked with other mental and physical disorders such as: depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD,) and some anxiety disorders.