Scottish - Symptom and Impairment Presentation, Access to Resources
Symptom Presentation
In comparison to Buzzfeed America’s post above, Buzzfeed UK provides a collection of sketched images of what the obsessive-compulsive disorder may look like for someone who is suffering from it and the toll it has on their mind, body, and life. All of the images depict a ghost-like creature that continues to hover over the person, telling them one thing or the other about their obsession, essentially leading to their helpless obsessions.
- Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners (Channel 4):
Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners' depicts people who have been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, or show symptoms related to the condition.
This TV show ran from 2013 and is still available to watch now. The 'compulsive cleaners' are sent to extremely cluttered and dirty houses, and are asked to clean. This show over generalized OCD to only encompass symptoms of extreme cleanliness that are seen as desirable and advantageous to the public. The cleaning compulsions of the people in the show are also utilized to help 'clean up Britain'. It dismisses the severity of OCD symptoms and the impacts that they can have on those with the illness, all in the name of entertainment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAXjq28Wpyk: The BBC documentary Extreme OCD Camp provides an excellent connection between America and Scotland by following 6 young people from the U.K. traveling on a trip to America to participate in a camp focusing on helping them conquer their personal struggles with OCD. This two part documentary showcases the difficulties that people with OCD struggle with everyday. While following 6 people all participating in the same program, the viewer can understand a multifaceted view of what the intricacies of OCD can be like for different people. As an example of what the participants did, view this clip: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01drtjq In this short video Olivia, a girl who struggles with OCD, forces herself to face a fear of contamination by entering an outhouse in the woods. Something that may seem easy to many can be a massive struggle to someone with OCD.
Impairment Presentation
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06hqxgz: This episode of the UK podcast “Ouch: Disability Talk” includes three women who all have OCD discussing their personal experiences. One woman discussed how OCD tics affects her by saying “When it’s bad, it’s all consuming. You can’t focus on anything else and you want to think about it more to somehow protect yourself, but the more you think about it the worse it gets.” Experiencing this on an everyday basis can seriously interrupt the life of an affected person. OCD can be incredibly difficult to manage due to its titular obsessive nature. The phrase “all-consuming” is a perfect description. Having to focus on a possibly menial aspect of life can have serious consequences. Sometimes, OCD can lead to symptoms synonymous with depression. Simply put, afflicted person can just feel bad without knowing why and obsess over the nature of the feeling that something is not right.
- https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/when-ocd-affects-you-at-work-with-charity-ocd-action-ep146/id1065492988?i=1000422742687 The OCD Stories episode 146: In the podcast above, there are 5 people being interviewed on OCD in the workplace, how to maneuver that, and finding a workplace in which you feel comfortable. Olivia, one of the people being interviewed, talks about how on a general day OCD doesn’t affect her ability to work, however she did experience a particularly difficult day recently and it reminded her that even though you may think you are okay sometimes those days still creep up on you. They provide insight on how some days you need the extra time and it can be useful to eventually disclose your OCD for some accommodations and they importance of your mental health.
- https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-28/pure-channel-4-air-date-cast-characters-plot-trailer/. Pure-O is a brand new comedy drama that is exploring a real but unknown sub category of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder called, Pure Obsessional Disorder and known informally known as Pure-O. The main characters OCD takes form as “an excruciating form of obsessive compulsive disorder that manifests itself in intrusive sexual thoughts”, that make seeing people on the train trigger sexual ideations and being at a wedding causing her to picture her own family having sex. though in general “The condition manifests itself in distressing, intrusive thoughts or mental images, which tend to revolve around themes including: harm to self and others; worries about sexual orientation and relationship decisions; fear of doing something illegal; paedophilia; and over-concern for honesty or religious purity”. The show is an adaptation of writer, Rose Cartwright’s memoirs about her own journey and experience with Pure-O. This show does not stray far from American television in that it is bringing OCD to the forefront in a comical manner, but it is different in terms of having someone who actually suffers from the illness be a major part of the show in order to represent the illness correctly.
- An example of social impairment due to OCD can be seen in the Scottish athlete Ian Poulter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXc8JZzDDI8
- A famous Scottish golfer Ian Poulter has spoken often about the difficulties he faces in his day to day life as well as his career as an athlete. Poulter has said his disorder causes him to panic and often act out in order to resolve his compulsions and obsessions. In a recent interview with The Scotsman, Poulter was describing being unable to find a sauce bottle in his fridge. Poulter admitted as a result of the misplaced sauce, he could not comfortably sit down with his son and eat the food he’d prepared. As he said in the interview, “Someone had just stuffed it back in the fridge. It was doing my head in so I had to pull everything out, put it all on the floor and then put it all back in so the dairy stuff was on one shelf, the salad on the next and so on.” Similar to Monica from the example #4 in the American section, this compulsion demonstrates a severe impairment in his quality of life. By being physically and mentally incapable to move past the stimulus until he has to perform his organizational cleansing ritual, Ian loses quality time he could have spent with his son. This need for control and awareness in present in all aspects of his life. Poulter, like many sufferers of OCD have rituals that must be meticulously followed. If the process is flawed in any way, the entire ritual must be repeated until completion. In his personal life, Ian has said that his OCD goes as far to hire Nannies who also have OCD. Ian himself thinks that, although he does seek professional help, he believes OCD is “bad trait to have.” Treatment for OCD has slightly different treatment that the rest of the UK. According to ocduk.org, “Mental health treatment across Scotland is provided by local NHS boards, unlike in England where services are provided by a Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).” The website further states that in Scotland, the advised treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is “NICE and recommends CBT as the main treatment for OCD.”
Dempster, M. (2014, July 12). Ian Poulter on managing his OCD. Retrieved January 26, 2020, from https://www.scotsman.com/sport/golf/ian-poulter-on-managing-his-ocd-1-3474665
Scottish - Access to Resources
- NHS Treatment of OCD: https://www.ocduk.org/overcoming-ocd/accessing-ocd-treatment/accessing-ocd-treatment-through-the-nhs/scotland/
- In the UK, CBT is recommended as a treatment of OCD by the NICE guidelines. However, these don't apply in Scotland. Scotland uses SIGN, which functions to improve the quality of health care for Scottish patients by reducing the variation in practices and their outcomes. This operates very similarly to NICE, but does not have a set of guidelines that cover OCD
- NHS Scotland uses NHS Inform, a national online resource for a variety of health information. NHS Inform aims to provide Scottish people with accurate information that can help them make informed decisions on their health.
- Regarding OCD, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is suggested as a course of treatment. However, you cannot self-refer yourself to get treated in Scottish hospitals. The main route into treatment would be to express your concerns over your mental health to your General Practitioner (GP), and you would then be referred to the appropriate services for treatment. Mental health care in Scotland is free of charge, however there is a great deal of pressure on these services. This causes a build up of patients and long waiting times for treatment, for example in 2019 only 72% of young people with mental health issues were seen within 4 and a half months (https://www.scotsman.com/news-2-15012/mental-health-care-crisis-for-scots-children-due-to-unacceptable-waiting-times-1-4884112).
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