OCD in Films Essay

In the film “As Good as It Gets” the character Melvin Udall appears to be living a life that is shaped by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Association, 2013). Melvin is a successful novelist who lives in New York City, in a spacious apartment that only someone well-off could afford (Brooks, 1997). While there is no doorman, the people who live in the apartment are depicted as upper class, and the glimpses of the insides of the apartments are luxurious and large (Brooks, 1997). Melvin seems to not lack from any material items but has a significant issue with interacting socially with others (Brooks, 1997).

The viewer can see that those that interact with Melvin do not seem to enjoy him and appear to find him rude and unpleasant (Brooks, 1997).

OCD in Film “As Good as It Gets”

The movie makes it seem that Melvin is thoughtless and unkind, and when coupled with the glimpses of how OCD grips Melvin it leaves the viewer wondering how much of Melvin’s inept social interactions are his attitude and how much is his disorder (Association, 2013).

Melvin is also depicted as well as racist, misogynistic, and homophobic, which while there can undoubtedly be behaviors that are intensified due to Melvin’s OCD, one can certainly not lay the blame for Melvin’s poor choices and actions solely on his disorder (Brooks, 1997). Obsessions are categorized as ideas that are persistent, impulses, images, and thoughts that intrude into a person’s thoughts and would be considered inappropriate (Association, 2013). These types of thoughts and ideas cause significant distress or anxiety to the person experiencing them, and the individuals find that they have a tough time with stopping their disturbing train of thought no matter how distressing the experience is (Module 9: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2018).

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Individuals with OCD

Individuals who experience OCD often try to suppress or ignore their obsessions by attempting to think about other things or by being active as a distraction (Lack, 2012). Those with OCD do usually realize that what they are experiencing is something that has been created by their mind (Association, 2013). The compulsion side of OCD can be seen by repetitive behaviors such as extreme cleaning, repeating certain words over and over, excessive hand washing, flipping light switches on and off, checking the that the stove is off a certain amount of times before being able to leave, and having a pattern and a number of time they have to lock and relock their door (Association, 2013).

The compulsive behaviors are usually serving the individual as a coping mechanism due to them attempting to reduce their anxiety or distress that is brought on by their obsessive thoughts (Association, 2013). Melvin compulsively avoids any cracks on the sidewalk, stepping on a crack seems almost to cause him physical pain, and he is obsessed with the idea that if he steps on a crack he will bring bad luck (Brooks, 1997). There is a causal connection that is in play when he engages in these ritualistic patterns which are in direct response to his obsessive thoughts (Association, 2013). Melvin is preoccupied with avoiding the touch of people, which seems to be tied to his concern with germs (Brooks, 1997). This is such an issue for Melvin that he brings his own plastic forks and spoons to the diner so that there is no risk of contamination from the silverware that other people would have touched (Brooks, 1997).

When Melvin lays out his plastic forks and knives, he does so in a ritualistic fashion that noticeably appears to lessen his anxiety since everything in his world is in its place, in the right order (Brooks, 1997). There are points during the course of OCD where clients who are dealing with the disorder can see that their obsessions or compulsions are unreasonable (Module 9: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2018). They can feel that their thoughts are unpleasant and are not happy with how excessive their actions and thoughts are (Module 9: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2018).

The behaviors and beliefs that come with the disorder absorb a lot of their time and can be the source of significant distress (Association, 2013). Because the OCD behaviors replace the behaviors that were useful and pleasing, the individual can find the disorders influence on their patterns of thoughts and actions to be extremely disruptive to their daily routine (Module 9: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2018). Melvin can tell that his compulsions are not reasonable. The viewer can see this when he shares with Carol that he has appointments with a psychiatrist and that he had started taking medicine to help treat his disorder (Brooks, 1997). While Melvin seems to have harnessed much of his disorder and put it to good use for the creation of his books, the facts are that if anything changes his established routine, he becomes seemingly unreasonably belligerent, loud, upset, and anxious with people (Brooks, 1997).

Treatment

My ideas for treatment would include Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) because this behavioral technique has been successful in the treatment of compulsions, which Melvin is struggling with regularly (Lack, 2012). With Melvin, using ERP treatment, I could take regular silverware from the diner that he likes, and have him touch it and then ask him not to wash his hands after, which is response prevention. The exposure portion could include paradoxical intervention, flooding, systematic desensitization, and satiation (Lack, 2012). Along with ERP, a medication known as SSRIs, which are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, can be used as an excellent first medication treatment (Pittenger, Kelmendi, Bloch, & Krystal, 2005). SSRIs directly impact serotonin, a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, in the brain. There is growing research that SSRIs are as effective as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) which have been used over many years to treat OCD, but with fewer side effects (Giada, et al., 2016). The way that the film portrays OCD was realistic. Of course, it was dramatized, made to be more over the top at times, but that is what I would expect from a movie (Brooks, 1997).

Throughout “As Good As It Gets” Melvin struggles with contamination-related obsessions and engages in ritualistic behaviors which serve to reduce his obsessional anxiety. This is a common manifestation of OCD, and I thought that the movie did a good job depicting this obsession (Module 9: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2018). Melvin is seen engaging in repeating (such as turning the lights on and off five times) and superstitious compulsions like stepping over cracks on the walkway (Brooks, 1997). In contrast to the washing rituals, it is difficult to infer the purpose of these compulsions, as the viewer, is not in Melvin’s head to hear the obsessed thought processes that provoke these rituals (Brooks, 1997). It may be that Melvin fears something disastrous might happen if he only locks the door four times. While Melvin’s compulsive rituals are accurately depicted, his regular social faux pas and emotional insensitivity and rudeness may be perceived by the viewer to be part of his OCD (Brooks, 1997).

For instance, at the beginning of the film, Melvin puts a neighbor’s dog into a garbage shoot, is rude to Jewish customers at a restaurant, and informs the mother of an ill child that “We are all going to die soon.” (Brooks, 1997) As the audience, we may believe Melvin’s misanthropic personality is one with his OCD symptoms. However, Melvin’s pattern of difficulties with cognition: such as perceives himself to be exempt from social graces, affect: the inappropriateness of emotional responses, and behavioral experiences: an avoidance of interpersonal relationships, are not part of OCD and may be suggestive of a personality disorder (Association, 2013). The film concentrates on the most visible parts of mental illness, which while not wholly accurate does a decent job of sharing what a disorder like OCD can look like (Brooks, 1997).

Conclusion

When watching the film, I never got the sense that the writer wanted to poorly portray mental illness. To the contrary, it seemed that the writer went for humor combined with education to create a funny slightly romantic drama about what it is like to live with OCD (Brooks, 1997). While there is some showcasing of the stigma of mental illness, for instance when the viewer sees how loud and unpredictable Melvin is, the movie is careful to also show us the human side to mental illness and how that struggle can look across different areas of a person’s life (Brooks, 1997).