¶ … Limiting as Well as the Creative Capacity of Mental Illness in Literature
Anne Tyler's the Accidental Tourist and John Cheever's "The Swimmer"
Mental illness in many works of fictional and non-fictional literature is often portrayed as a kind of wellspring of creativity for the sufferer of the illness. However, even in many works of literature, mental illness is also shown as potentially crippling to the sufferer and those whom are close to the sufferer. This eviscerating honesty is seen in Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist as well as depiction of the central character of John Cheever's "The Swimmer." Both illustrate this principle that mental illness is an illness, not a 'gift' as it is sentimentally portrayed. Rather than experiencing glorious and creative highs of mania, or experiencing a form suffering that gives the soul an additional insight into the human condition, both Tyler's and Cheever's protagonists' life experiences are ultimately limited by their mental illnesses. Anne Tyler shows how obsessive-compulsive disorder has...
OCD in Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common psychological, anxiety disorder that is characterized by repetitive and intrusive thoughts and stereotypic behaviors frequently associated with dread and compulsion (Walitza). These intrusive thoughts can be scary and the behaviors are often disruptive to the development of social relationships and therefore debilitating especially to children and adolescents. OCD affects approximately 3% of the population and an early age of symptoms onset during
These studies show the importance of confronting feared stimuli for extinguishing anxiety. However, at the same time, other research has found that the cognitive methodology has had equal results to the ERP in OCD treatment. Hackman and McLean report that they have as positive results with thought-stopping as those found with ERP. Once again, however, the number of studies has been very small (Abromowitz). It has only been in the
Here is what is known for now: Patients who are found to have OCD generally display symptoms along the lines of having compulsions, obsessions, doubting, hyper-vigilance and the need to control their environment. No one is completely certain what it is that causes OCD, although there are two trains of thought on the matter. Some people believe that OCD is a psychological disorder and others believe that it is
OCD is in many ways a homogeneous disorder. The disorder has a prevalence of around 2% to 3% of the population, and this prevalence is likely underestimated in many different countries / and descriptions of obsessions and compulsions have been remarkably consistent over time and place. Neurobiological studies have consistently found evidence that cortical-striatal-thalamic-cortical (CTSC) circuits play a crucial role in mediating the disorder and treatment research has invariably demonstrated
Diagnosis in children is sometimes difficult since they often try to mask symptoms. The following questions are a good indicator that the child needs to be evaluated by a professional: Do you have worries, thoughts, images, feelings, or ideas that bother you? Do you have to check things over and over again? Do you have to wash your hands a lot, more than most kids? Do you count to a certain number or
The resulting anxiety then is managed by training children to use strategies that help them work with their anxiety in a more effective and less disruptive way. Anxiety management techniques may include relaxation training, distraction, or imagery. Often, OCD is personified as something that makes the child perform an action. Thus, children learn to assess situations and ask themselves if they really want to do something, as opposed to the
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