Copyright 2003
I recently had the privilege of reviewing an excellent video that quite compassionately portrays the lives of four families living with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Like myself, the co-director, Mark Pancer, also has OCD. I think this is part of what sets this video apart from other portrayals of OCD I've seen on TV and in movies.
There was no attempt to sensationalize OCD or entertain the viewer at the expense of the families portrayed. The cameras went into the homes of people with OCD and it was presented as it really is: daily living with obsessive, intrusive, unwanted thoughts that are relieved only by performing more and more rituals. Some of the rituals were as ordinary as washing hands and clothes or checking locks. The video goes a step further though, and some of the people with OCD share their more unusual obsessions and rituals. One boy feels a need to hold a knife, just so, until it feels right. Another man stares at a towel, trying to decide if it's really there. A woman can't stand to let anyone but her husband and daughter into her home because of contamination fears.
Still, I got the feeling the families were not being exploited to entertain us with bazaar behavior. They weren't trying to titillate us with details of an unusual disorder. No, OCD was presented in its reality. Watching it, my husband finally understood that his wife wasn't the only one who had experienced the anxiety of OCD. He soon found that his wife also wasn't the only one that was recovering from OCD.
After we entered the lives of the four families living with OCD, the patients and their families briefly described the cause of OCD and its treatment. The brain of a person with OCD works a bit differently. Medications that make more serotonin available to the brain improve the symptoms. A type of treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), also improves symptoms. It actually changes the way the brain works! Changing the way a person thinks and behaves changes the way the brain works. Hard to believe but true; we have PET scans to prove it.
The video portrays the families beginning treatment. One teen has wonderful results with medication, but must stop due to side effects. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps, but not enough. Then she is able to tolerate another medication and again her OCD improves a great deal.
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