Week Two - Anxiety Disorders (Case Study 3)

Case Study 3: Bert is 40 years old and works on an assembly line in a brush factory. He is terribly afraid of being contaminated by germs. He avoids shaking hands with others. He won’t eat in the cafeteria. He has trouble leaving the bathroom because he isn’t sure he has washed his hands well enough.

According to the DSM-IV, Bert's compulsions are classified as repetitive behaviors which reduce his stress and anxiety; these compulsions are classically defined in OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCD usually associated with persistent ideas, thoughts, and impulses that inhibit regular activities. The most extreme examples of OCD includes the fear of "contamination." Bert's symptoms confirm the diagnosis: reoccuring and persistant thoughts that can be intrusive in one's life, excessive worries about one's life, attempts to ignore such impulses, and a recognition of such impulses. Bert possess ALL of these, and thus would be a prime cantidad for OCD.

Treatment for OCD can be managed (but not treated!) with anti-depressants; however, some people find medication to be intrusive and, in a sense, has been documented by some to make them feel "numb." Another alternative is group therapy with other patients who also possess OCD. In fact, the latter is often described by many to be the best treatment. Patients with OCD commonly describe a feeling of isolation from others because of their inability to cope with their disorder, believing that they are "in it all alone." In these support groups, OCD patients are given the opportunity to meet with others who work with the same problems they do.






http://www.biologicalunhappiness.com/DSM-OCD.htm
http://www.peaceandhealing.com/personality/obsessive.asp
http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/ocd/site/Transcripts/best_ocd_treatment.htm
http://www.ocdla.com/OCDtherapygroups.html

Week One - Psychological Disorder Profile (Albert Einstein)

Born in 1879 in Germany, Albert Einstein's parents knew that their son was different. By the age of three, he had yet to learn to interact socially with his peers. He was often described by his family as being withdrawn from others, constantly repeating everything he said multimple times, difficulty choosing socks to wear, and possessing a strange fascination with building houses out of playing cards. Because of these strange repetitive actions, Albert Einstein's parents genuinely began to think that their son was mentally retarded. At a glance, this would discourage anyone from believing that young Albert would accomplish anything as a adult. However, things changed when, at the age of twelve, Einstein picked up his first geometry book and began to learn.



From this point forward, Einstein's noted genius (and perhaps insanity) in mathematics began to emerge. At the age of fifteen, Einstein dropped out of school at the advice of a teacher and moved to Italy. He found great difficulty holding down a steady job, but behind the scenes, Einstein was publishing top-notch articles. The reception of these articles earned Einstein a spot as a professor at the German Univeristy in Prague. Five years later, Einstein left his wife and two sons just before the First World War broke out, and a year later, he completed his theory of relativity--the theory that would explain all theories. With his life's greatest works complete, Einstein's yearnings to make another impact upon the world dwindled until his death in 1955.



It was not until the last decade that it has been discussed that Einstein's unusual mannerisms and habits might not have been just the mark of a genius. Documented by Hans Asperger in the 1940's, Asperger's syndrome is a subgroup of autism, a psychological disorder characterized in a patient whom possess a particular, circumscribed area of interest, difficulty comminicating with others due to their stunted verbal growth, and extreme sensitivity to textures on their skin--all of which Einstein presented throughout his life. With this knowledge now available, Einstein's actions, attitudes, and simple manngerisms can all be explained. His disease not only facilitated his interest in science and therefore his career, but also what made this genius a genius in the first place.



To measure the extent this disease might have taken its toll on Albert Einstein objectively might never be known, but putting oneself into his shoes puts it into persective. Asperger's patients commonly suffer from clinical depression, and since my own family has a history of the disease, I know what feeling like you're crazy can make you do. Not know how to communicate with others nor decode their nonverbal messages must have been one of the hardest things Mr. Einstein would have had to endure.





"Albert Einstein in Brief." The Center for History of Physics 12/28/2007 7 Nov 2008 http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/inbrief.htm.

"Einstein and Newton 'had autism'." BBC NEWS 4/30/2003 7 Nov 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2988647.stm.

Fattig, Michelle. "Famous People with Asperger's Syndrome." Disabled World 12/28/2007 7 Nov 2008 http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_2086.shtml.

"What is Asperger's Disorder." Asperger's Disorder. 7 Nov 2008 http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_2086.shtml.