Monk, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

The television show, “Monk,” is about a brilliant ex police officer turned “Super Sleuth” because he is rendered emotionally unfit to serve on the police department after his wife is unexpectedly murdered in a brutal car bomb. Set in the city by the bay, “San Francisco,” Adrian Monk solves crimes that stump his colleagues on the force with unbelievable accuracy. Monk has dozens of phobias and emotional problems including an acute case of OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Monk is so debilitated by this disorder that he has to have a personal assistant with him almost all of the time in order to function in everyday society.

Obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD, covered in Chapter 12 on pg 468, is basically a disorder rooted in Anxiety. People with OCD have unwanted, and often upsetting, thoughts that, many times, focus on some sort of calamity that hasn’t yet occurred. This is the obsession part of the disorder. People who suffer from this disorder can not stop their unwanted reoccurring thoughts. A person suffering from OCD often experience concerning suicide, illnesses, germs and causing others pain. The person suffering form OCD rarely act on them, these thoughts drive the affected person to alleviate the anxiety caused by these thoughts by performing repetitive behaviors such as hand washing or touching poles and in extreme cases, cutting their selves.; these actions are called compulsions. This debilitating order can be devastating to the person suffering from it as well their family. Those not suffering from the disorder often find it impossible to “deal” with the actions of the OCD sufferer and as a result these people can live a very lonely life. I choose this as one of my topics because I think it is important for people to understand this disorder and thus the people suffering from it.