OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is a mental disease that manifests itself in people by making them have thoughts that they can’t shake that cause them to engage in repetitive actions. That’s a very simplified explanation of the disorder, which can have very different symptoms in different people. We’ll talk about the different ways OCD can manifest, and also tell you about some celebrities who are reported to have OCD .
Behind bipolar, depression, and general anxiety, OCD is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder (meaning it’s fourth). One source says that 1 in 50 American adults has the disorder, which would give credence to the idea that at least a few of our favorite movie stars and other celebrities could suffer from OCD. The severity of the disease differs. Some people feel the need to wash their hands frequently. Others hoard items, and still others can have more violent tendencies. It seems that most of the sources that report on the disorder agree that the root of the disorder comes from a person’s thoughts.
If a person obsesses about germs, they will be inclined to wash their hands a lot. If a person thinks obsessively about things being in their proper place they might check cabinets and drawers very frequently. If a person worries about losing things, they might hoard those things so that they never run out. One could argue that we all do this to a degree, but the point about OCD is that it is behavior that affects your everyday life. It is one thing to care about germs. It is another to wash your hands until they are raw and bleeding. There are varying degrees of this illness just like any other illness.
OCD is not viewed as negatively as it used to be. For goodness sake – sufferers used be thought to be possessed. Nowadays the impulses are recognized as a mere mental disorder and are treated as such. You won’t see OCD on a list of strange illnesses, or on a website devoted to bizarre diseases. Sometimes people decide to have a little bit of fun with the illness, like on the show Monk, or the guidance counselor’s character on the show Glee. There has also been some media coverage on the fact that certain celebrities have been open about their own OCD.
Howie Mandel, for instance, says that he has his OCD to thank for part of his success. If his brain didn’t work the way it does, he wouldn’t be as funny as he is. Wikipedia also tells us that he has been active in trying to get insurance companies to cover therapy costs for OCD.
Remember that guy from Double Dare, the kid’s game show on Nickelodeon? He has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and even wrote a book about it. Mr. Posh Spice, soccer superstar David Beckham has also been pretty vocal about his own OCD. If you saw that move The Aviator, you saw that Howard Hughes suffered from a pretty severe form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Other websites have told us that Charlize Theron, Billy Bob Thornton, Jessica Alba, Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Love Hewitt all suffer from the disease. And they do just fine, don’t they?
Author Resource:
Elizabeth Johnson is a well-respected writer about many topics, including mental illnesses and many stranger, more bizarre medical conditions. Find more about strange diseases at http://www.bizarremedical.com .
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