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Friday, June 12, 2009

obsessed!

Anyone been watching the show “Obsessed” on A&E? I think I’ve watched 3 episodes. I'm obsessed with this show! I think perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that the show depicts such extremes of OCD. It's proof positive, that some people out there have it worse than the rest of us. It also shows how dramatically 12 weeks of therapy can help a person with this disorder, that is if they truly want help. Now I don't know anyone personally with this disorder, but I think I relate to it because it is a form of mental illness and I'm fascinated with anything on the subject of mental illness.

New episodes of the show debut on Mondays. You can watch previous episodes online at “Obsessed”.

This weeks episode features Rick and Nidia.

#1 Rick – Is a mathematician. He exercises obsessively. Sometimes as much as 58 times a week. He runs from gym to gym doing 5-15 minutes of exercise at each. Daily! Then he runs upstairs to his office, where he has weights and obsessively does repetitions between spurts of writing. He also takes an obscene number of vitamins and supplements. All this because he wants to stay healthy so that he can stay alive to see the new technological advances that he knows will be coming in the future. He doesn’t want to miss out. He keeps track of all his workouts and can tell you exactly the last time he’s missed working out. He had notebooks filled with logs of his workouts. He obsessively calculates the numbers on license plates he sees. He also obsessively turns right instead of left. After 12 weeks of therapy Rick estimated he reduced his OCD by 66%.

Doesn't that strike you as odd, the reason that he wants to be healthy so he can live a long life? My Father passed away 19 years ago. Not much he could have done to lengthen his life, due to the type of cancer he had, but, let's say he could have. Would he have wanted to extend his life to see the invention of cordless drills, plasma televisions, ipods and cellular phones that weigh less than 3 ounces? I think not. I think my Father would have wanted to extend his life to be around to meet his grandchildren.

Rick seemed like a bit of a whackadoodle to me. I mean, calculating license plates really isn't OCD, it's probably another form of mental illness.

#2 Nidia – Obsessive compulsive to the max. She washes her hands about a hundred times a day. She won’t eat fruits or vegetables and she eats very little as it is. She fears bowel movements. After eating she obsesses about the bowel movement, cleans & disinfects the toilet, then goes in the shower, gives herself an enema, then uses a toothbrush to clean out, well, you know where. It takes her 2 hours to shower after the enema. She always has to shower after she goes to the bathroom. Twice she has needed blood transfusions. 2 pints of blood because of her brushing ritual. After 12 weeks of therapy she successfully began eating all types of foods and stopped her bathroom ritual.

Amazing. One of the previous episodes I saw was a man who was obsessively clean. So clean he did not have trash receptacles inside his home. Any time he had to throw out trash, he had to walk outside to the trashcan. That man's disorder seemed mild in comparison to Rick's and Nidia's.

Have you seen this show? What did you think?

Lola's Diner
©2008-2009

12 comments:

Kelley said...

The Rick/Nadia show was the first one that I've watched. Wowsers. My husband and I were trying to figure out how Nadia didn't run out of hot water during her marathon showers. And as afraid as she was of getting dirty, she was smoking? Good thing she couldn't scrub her lungs out, I guess.

From what I understand, Rick is a writer for Jimmy Fallon, I think? I didn't get the 5-minute workouts. He'd dash in to the gym, work out furiously on the weights and then counter-clockwise spin on out of there. He made me tired! And for all his efforts and supplement popping to stay young, I thought he looked a lot older than his age. But whatever floats his boat, I suppose.

Lola said...

He even got hair plugs to look younger. Didn't seem like it though. I missed that part about him being a writer for Jimmy Fallon. I was just laughing my ass off at the 5 minute workouts running from gym to gym wearing street clothes instead of workout clothes. Why couldn't he do longer workouts at 1 gym and use different pieces of equipment. And then he wasn't showering after his workouts. Ewww!

And Nidia, that was just all kinds of wrong. I mean, if she's scrubbing to the point of bleeding she could get a deadly infection. It's a wonder she is still alive.

Patricia Rockwell said...

This is reality TV? Not fiction? When is it on? It does sound really fascinating and I'd like to see it. Unless someone points these shows out, I tend to not look for them as there are so many channels!

Yen said...

hello, stopping by for the challenge

Ziggy Stardust said...

I am also obsessed with this show. It is amazing to me how people can live like that. I thought I had problems but there are many people with much greater problems. I am also a big fan of Intervention.

Anne

Kelley said...

Between Intervention and Obsessed, I feel much better about myself, lately!

The Diva on a Diet said...

OMG, that is some serious OCD there!

I haven't seen the show, nor have I heard of it. Will have to check it out - sounds fascinating. I think we're all a little OCD, to some extent, but this stuff sounds scary. Thank heaven for therapy!

As for Rick, um, no - I can think of better reasons for wanting a longer life than new technology. Sheesh.

Lola said...

@ Patricia - It's real people. It's on Monday nights on A&E at 8pm Central time.

@ Yen - Thanks for stopping by.

@ Chicamom85 - I find it amazing that their significant others continue to deal with this stuff. I mean, if Nidia is that OCD about the bathroom, I don't think we want to know how OCD she is about sex.

@ Kelley - Exactly, my problems with my daughter seem at times like nothing in comparison.

@ The Diva - Exactly! How about spending more time with his loved ones, who at the beginning of the show hardly saw him because of his exercise rituals.

Jenni said...

I haven't see it, but my husband did and he told me allllll about Nidia! Ack!

Unknown said...

I'll have to check that out!! Thanks for stopping by for VGNO--I'm doing a VGDO (day out)....

Simple Mind Zen said...

Obsessed on A&E:
The 12 week thing is often very effective and drug free. Check out this web site, The American Association of Family Physicians:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/mzsfjc

Lori L. Clark Art said...

I have not seen this. My "little" need to have the papers straight on my desk, and everything in it's place, no crooked pictures, etc. seems rather mild compared to these people! I need to watch it!

 
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