Chick
This interview illustrates someone who struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The client, Chuck is very candid about how he describes himself as âobsessive compulsive.â He acknowledges that his behavior is irrational but he cannot seem to stop. Pay particular attention to how Chuck describes his plans for a vacation.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is evident by:
Obsessions - recurrent thoughts, images, or impulses that cause anxiety,
or
Compulsions - repetitive behaviors that are designed to reduce anxiety and must be rigidly followed
or
A combination of obsessions and compulsions
Client feels driven to perform compulsions. Which:
â¢Are time consuming
â¢Interfere with normal routine
â¢Client recognizes thought/behaviors as being unreasonable
Use the below set of questions as a guide, as you view the video:
1.Chuck clearly describes how his thoughts and behaviors influenced his planning for a vacation. What impact do you think his obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors have on his daily life?
2.Chuck talks about having obsessive thoughts for a very long time. Do you think he sees any âstrengthsâ in how he has managed to cope with the diagnosis of OCD?
Chuck
Therapist: Thanks for agreeing to come here and talk with us. I know youâre having some pain from your back.
Chuck: Uh huh.
Therapist: Do you have any other kind of symptoms that are troubling you right now?
Chuck: Ah, Iâm a little bit obsessive compulsive. Sometimes the obsessive part is a little difficult to deal with.
Therapist: Can you tell me what you mean by obsessive compulsive?
Chuck: The obsessive part, Iâll get a thought in my head and I cannot put it out. Itâs just there all the time. I think about it when I got to bed. I think about it when I get up. Itâs just hard sometimes to put thoughts to rest.
Therapist: And are there any specific thoughts that are common ones for you? That repeat themselves?
Chuck: Not particularly. An example, when I went on vacation I had to leave my pets with some friends and I obsessed about it, constantly. Should I be doing this? Should I be doing that? Will everything be okay? Maybe I should put them in a kennel? Maybe I should take them over to my friendâs house, let him watch them there? Just constantly it was on my mind.
Therapist: So itâs uncomfortable for you when that happens?
Chuck: Yeah.
Therapist: And about how much of the time would you say you have thoughts like that that are in your head that you wish werenât there?
Chuck: Pretty much all the time.
Therapist: Okay. Are there ever activities that you need to do as a result of having the thoughts in your head?
Chuck: Iâm a checker. I have to check things. You know, like when I went on vacation and I left my pets at home, it took me two hours to get out of the house to leave. I had to check the stove. I had to check the windows. I had to check the cages, make sure everything was okay. Then I had to go back and start over again
Therapist: So the thoughts would be there and in order to appease the thoughts, if you will, you had to go back and check things over and over again?
Chuck: Yeah.
Therapist: Okay. Do you have to allow yourself extra time?
Chuck: Yeah. I have to allow myself in the mornings about ten minutes. I donât cook so itâs kind of ironic that I have to check the stove every morning because I never cook. But I have to check the stove. Iâm a smoker so I have to check and make sure I havenât left any cigarettes anywhere around burning. Thatâs not real rational either because I only smoke in the bathroom, but I still have to check. Like I say, I have my pets. I have to check their cages, make sure theyâre not out. I have this obsessive thought that one day my bird is going to get out of its cage and itâs going to be out in the hallway when I get home from work because I didnât check to make sure that it was in there; theyâre not always really rational.
Therapist: And the thoughts that you have are they your thoughts? Are thy coming from inside your own head? Are they your own thoughts?
Chuck: Yeah.
Therapist: Theyâre your own thoughts, but theyâre repetitive and they bother you and if you could stop them you would.
Chuck: Yeah.
Therapist: Do you have any anxiety symptoms at those times, such as a pounding heart, palpitations, shortness of breath?
Chuck: No.
Therapist: Are you somebody in general who has anxiety symptoms?
Chuck: I get a little stressed out yeah, but I think when I get more stressed the obsessions become more intense.
Therapist: Have you ever been depressed before this time?
Chuck: Ah, I havenât been in treatment for the last two years, but before that I was in therapy for about seven years.
Therapist: Okay and when you were depressed, what symptoms did you have?
Chuck: Crying spells, hopelessness, helplessness that I couldnât change situations, suicidal thoughts sometimes.
Therapist: And how long did those symptoms last?
Chuck: A lot of them lasted a long time. Actually for most of my adult life I think that I was depressed and had a lot of those symptoms, but didnât really seek help until about seven years ago.
Therapist: And now during that time when you were having depressions, were you also having the obsessions and the compulsions?
Chuck: Uh huh.
Therapist: Okay and which ones started first?
Chuck: I donât know. Itâs like theyâve always been there.
Therapist: Both the depression and the obsessions and compulsions have been there as long as you can remember?
Chuck: As long as I can remember, yeah.
Therapist: Back to childhood?
Chuck: Uh huh.
Therapist: And right now you said currently youâre not depressed.
Chuck: No. currently Iâm not depressed. Seven years of drugs and psychotherapy kind of helped.
Therapist: How long has it been since youâve been depressed?
Chuck: Iâll have one or two days I might get down, but itâs not that overwhelming sense of hopelessness and helplessness. I havenât had that for over two years now.
Therapist: And the obsession and compulsions have been somewhat alleviated, but really only to a minor extent.
Chuck: Yeah. Theyâre just kind of there and like I say kind of depends upon the situation, my stress level, you know, whatâs going on. But, you know, I pretty much learned to live with it.
Print Window
Now that you have viewed the video of Chuck, answer the following questions.
Chuck talks about having obsessive thought for a very long time. Do you think he sees any âstrengthsâ in how he has managed to cope with the diagnosis of OCD?