"Obsessed" on A & E

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A new show will start soon on A&E along the lines of Intervention and Hoarding and it is about OCD. It's got me thinking about something my son does. He has to rap an object 3 times after he puts it down. I think it started because he always had a tendency to blame inanimate objects when he bumped into them and would hit them. That gradually morphed to a small spank and then to these 3 raps. I haven't said much or tried to make him stop. I haven't said anything to his psychiatrist because I don't want to assume meds are the answer to everything. For example he was stressed out about being bullied and expressed (when prompted by a leading question) a desire not to be alive. He was put on Remeron that did not help his anxiety but made him gain 30 pounds in 3 months. The preview of the show featured people, who's lives were ruled by their OCD. My question is, is now the time to worry or should I just wait and see if it worsens? What he's doing right now is not a huge concern;I'm just wondering if it's going to get worse.

Last edited by Aimless on 28 Jun 2010, 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I try to steer clear of shows like that, because I want to think about the best case scenario, instead of the worse case scenario.

I'm wondering what to do or not do about my son, who has a firmly entrenched little ritual.

I think that by watching the show, personally, that you might be able to figure it out.

I certainly will watch the show. Has anybody with OCD found that earlier intervention would have helped or did it make it worse?

I was told a key difference between a routine or ritual and a obsessive compulsion is if you are forced to stop yourself from executing the ritual and leave, whither you thoughts keep on coming back to the fact that the ritual was not completed.

Although I do not suffer from OCD

I have suffered from particularly severe OCD since age 3, and I found Obsessed to be a poor show. Its depiction of OCD's treatment is highly inaccurate. Every single person on that show, no matter how severe their OCD was when they started, is magically "cured" by the end of the episode. CBT therapy alone has "cured" them. First of all, people with OCD will suffer with OCD their whole life, even if it's become managable with some form of treatment. I finally got my OCD under control two years ago, when I started Anafranil, which has been my OCD miracle medication. However, I still have obsessions every day. It's just that I can function now.

Secondly, CBT is not some miracle treatment. The best form of treatment for OCD (for most people) is a combination of medication and CBT. Medication is never mentioned once on this show, and as a neuroscientist, it greatly offends me how the neurobiological causes of OCD are never once addressed. Like you said, the show shows people who supposedly are incapacitated with OCD, but at the end of every episode, no matter how debilitating their OCD was a mere 12 weeks prior, it's as if they've never suffered from the disorder. I realize that medication is not the answer for everything, but OCD is a disorder where medication is almost always essential.

Also, OCD is a horrible thing to experience. It is not about habits. That is a misconception. If your son is tapping objects for fun or just as a habit, this is not OCD. If it's OCD, he will detest having to tap, but he will be forced to by his mind, fearing that something terrible will happen if he does not. There are many types of OCD, from the stereotypical handwasher to the pure obsessional who has few compulsions (what I am), but we all share one thing in common: all of our fears boil down to a fear of something bad happening and/or a fear of others' safety. Ask your son if he feels anxious if he doesn't tap objects, or what he taps the objects for. Is it because he thinks you're going to die if he doesn't tap? If it is OCD, he will have these manifestations. If it's just a habit or AS routine, he will do it for fun/completeness, with no anxiety/fear whatsoever.
-OddDuckNash99-

That's not a new show. I've seen several episodes. It's about severe OCD and BDD. I could associate with the lesser elements as I'm pretty sure I have mild versions of OCD and BDD, but the people on that show will need help for life.

What your son is doing seems mild. When I was a kid I had motor tics and had to have things arranged a certain way. When I was a teenager I became obsessed with sculpting my eyebrows cuz people used to tell me I looked like a boy (my eyebrows were really big and dark). Now I have to spend like an hour a night plucking them. I know I shouldn't but I feel anxious if I don't do it.

I would ask your son how he would feel if he had to stop doing his ritual.

I didn't want to restrict him because I thought that might make it worse. I realize what he's doing is mild, I'm just wondering if it will grow. I asked once if it made him feel better and he said yes. Here's the thing. If he raps the object too firmly and it falls over he has to do it again. I think it's slightly past just fun right now but not yet into a life controlling obsession. He has suffered severe tics before (facial,vocal and full body) but he was taken off Risperdal and put on Tenex and things are OK there. I don't know if there's a neurological connection. Thanks for your input.

I hope you keep watching the show.

My daughter also has little rituals. Some are more worrysome than others. She has rituals for doing many things. She also will pull out her hair and eyelashes.

What I have been told is that this is a type of coping mechanism. In a world that seems unstable and confusing, they are trying to "control" what they can by these rituals. I have tried to stop my daughter from hers-and she will actually hide the fact that she is doing them. I don't think it's good for her to have to hide them so I give her plenty of leeway with her rituals. As you said, in the grand scheme of things I don't think having rituals is bad per se, but if they begin to debilitate your son then I would see it as a problem. We all have habits and certain ways of doing things-it's just that some are more socially acceptable than others.

I don't know enough about OCD to weigh in on what I think is going on with your son, but I did want to respond.

If my son were displaying an OCD behavior, even if mild, I would research the heck out of it. It makes sense to me that OCD would

be progressive since it can be helped with CBT. It would be MUCH easier to help him release the need for ritual now then when he's

older and his rituals have become more entrenched. If, indeed, this is how OCD works. I understand not wanting to take away

something that soothes him, but if this is progressive now is the time to act AND help him find healthier ways to release stress.

I'm just encouraging you to look into this, so you can either rule out a problem or act on it. I wouldn't rely on the show to inform yourself.

If that's the only thing he obsesses about then I don't think it's anything to worry about. If he develops another obsession then I would start too worry.

I was told once that the difference between autistic ritual and ocd compulsion is that the ritual is done to suppress the chaos of the world (give it a sense of order), while the ocd compulsion is carried out to subdue inner chaos. I don't know the validity of the statement, but it does make sense to me in the light of personal experience. For instance, I need to have my room exactly the same every night before I fall asleep. Among other things, my chair has to be in a certain position, my window needs to have its shade pulled down to the right spot, and my closet door needs to be open just a crack. If I miss anything it keeps me from falling asleep and I become anxious. Having everything the same every night refreshes a sense of familiarity for me that often gets lost during the day. The social world is an unpredictable chaos for me, so I make my own world as consistent and orderly as I can.

As for your son... with the amount of research and concern you have I'm sure you will come to the right conclusion

I watch all those shows on A&E that have to do with anxiety disorders. They're among my few, but fav shows on TV.

Anyway, about your son... I would worry if it seems to be taking up a lot of his day, or seems to interfere with his life. Right now, it seems like a strange compulsion/ritual, not unlike many that I had as a child. I guess that I still have a few, but I find pleasure in completing them, whereas, from my understanding, people with OCD do not ever find pleasure in their compulsions, or rituals. They only do it to relieve anxiety, so the relief of the anxious state is the only pleasure they get from it. Also, if it were true OCD, from what I know, it will get progressively worse, as the ritual will not keep relieving the anxiety over a long period of time, so the person will keep adding more to the ritual. It will expand, and begin taking over the person's life, and day. It's like the ritual will only last so long, before the calming effect will wear off, then you have to do it again to relieve anxiety, and that anxious feeling will get stronger, and come more often the longer you have untreated OCD.

I agree. I'm just trying to find where the balance is and how to go about it. I used to say things in my head in order for things to go right and I guess I eventually grew out of it. This was when i was in 1st and 2nd grade.