obsessive compulsive disorder

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Many illnesses have support groups and even official organizations that help sufferers and families understand and cope with that illness.  You know, like The Arthritis Foundation and the Diabetic Association. Read more on “Accomodating” or “Taking Advantage Of?”…

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Natural treatment of obsessionality. “Estelle, you’re such a little worrier.  Yes you are.” When I was little, I never understood why my Auntie Charlotte always addressed me this way.  I did know that my family had “adopted” her which seemed to give her the right to “adopt” me.  Her orthodox Jewish family had rejected her because she wanted to marry a guy who had been married before, even though he was very Jewish. I was not supposed to know or care about such things.  But I did know she was the first person in my life to tell me I worried too much about things that didn’t need worrying about.

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It is not just that Fox missed “fair and balanced” with a recent headline about why women gain weight after menopause.  This is out and out false advertising.

I am glad that someone is figuring out genetic predisposition to visceral fat in mice.  I actually own a significantly overweight Minnie Mouse stuffed toy.  She needs to know about this.  Oversimplifications of science in order to get folks to listen to or read news stories is worrisome, tedious, and all sorts of things. Read more on Misleading Headline about Postmenopausal Weight Gain Lets Me Plug My Book…

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I guess people have to worship something.

I certainly have seen people idolize people before.  Sometimes, to my amazement, when my parents managed to get me in the newspaper as a child for some alleged academic achievement, it was even me. Religion is something I generally avoid with patients.  I sometimes will admit that I say things like “God love you.”  As a matter of fact, I remember that my mother-in-law, Carolyn of blessed memory, said that sometimes, and I liked the feeling, and I suspect that is when I integrated it into my conversation, at least with patients who had limited time with me and wanted to discuss religion.

Read more on Celebrity Worship — The New Religion?…

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He was over 60 years old when he walked into my office; a colorful relic of the sixties, with his multicolor T-shirt, love beads, turquoise earrings.  Like many people found in Southern California who are a little older than their “moment of fame” in the entertainment industry, he had frozen that moment.  I did not recognize his name, but someone who followed the music scene in the sixties may have known his group.
Many of the numbers for which he was known back then were associated with “getting high,” something he told me he had done infrequently then, for it impaired his ability to perform.  He certainly had not done it much since, for there had been some odd jobs (of which he spoke little, obviously not proud he had to do them) and some performances on some kind of a 60’s revival circuit, where he was revered for still being who he was.  There were some problems.

He did have obsessive compulsive disorder.  He had been on a variety of medications which one might expect to be helpful with that, but which had not.  In my experience this was not uncommon.  He was seeing a therapist who was trying to help him with this, but who was doing traditional “insight oriented” therapy.  Of course, this did not work. His worries were mainly about cleanliness and order; common ones.  I recommended the most recent edition of hte book I have been recommending for years, in its most recent edition. (Bantam Press) Despite my efforts to avoid making his therapist sound like an idiot, I sent him to some of the wonderful free self-help you can find on the internet. But wait, there’s more.  He said that he frequently heard, in his head certain lines or phrases of songs he had performed in the sixties. Not whole songs or even parts he liked.  Just opening lines, or one line or phrase, that would repeat an infinity of times.  He had tried to drown it out, all sorts of things, and yet he felt victim to it. It was frustrating and he did not know how to stop it.  This was not conventional obsessive compulsive disorder. Read more on Musical Hallucinosis — Too Much Of A Good Thing?…

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