Are Those Germs in Your Pocket,or Am I Just Crazy to See You? An Autoethnographic Consideration of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Abstract

This autoethnographic account chronicles my experiences living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is generally framed as a chemical imbalance. I advocate a phenomenological, narrative-based understanding of the illness and emphasize its communicative characteristics. I also consider the ways in which creative writing strategies associated with OCD treatment might inform qualitative research practices.

Keywords

autoethnography communication mental health and illness narrative inquiry obsessive-compulsive disorder

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Berry

(2006). Implicated audience member seeks understanding: Reexamining the “gift” of autoethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5. Retrieved from http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/5_3/HTML/berry.htm

Brooks

(2010). Social performance and secret ritual: Battling against obsessive-compulsive disorder. Qualitative Health Research, 21, 249-261.

Clark

D. A.

Purdon

(1993). New perspectives for a cognitive theory of obsessions. Australian Psychologist, 28, 161-167. doi: 10.1080/00050069308258896

Craighead

W. E.

Nemeroff

C. B.

(2004). The concise Corsini encyclopedia of psychology and behavioral science (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

Ellis

Bochner

A. P.

(2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In Denzin

N. K.

Lincoln

Y. S.

(Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 733-768). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Foucault

(2006). History of madness. New York, NY: Routledge.

Fox

(2007). Skinny bones #126-774-835-29: Thin gay bodies signifying a modern plague. Text and Performance Quarterly, 27, 3-19. doi: 10.1080/10462930601045956

Fox

(2010). Re-membering Daddy: Autoethnographic reflections of my father and Alzheimer’s disease. Text and Performance Quarterly, 30, 3-20.

10.

Fox

(2013). “You are not allowed to talk about production”: Narratization on (and off) the set of CBS’s Big Brother. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 30, 189-208. doi: 10.1080/15295036.2012.755051

11.

Geertz

(1988). Works and lives: The anthropologist as author. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

12.

Gingrich-Philbrook

(2005). Autoethnography’s family values: Easy access to compulsory experiences. Text and Performance Quarterly, 25, 297-314. doi: 10.1080/10462930500362445

13.

Goodman

(2006). Treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder. PyschCentral. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/lib/treatments-for-obsessive-compulsive-disorder/00078

14.

Hallam

R. S.

O’Connor

K. P.

(2002). A dialogic approach to obsessions. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 75, 333-348. doi: 10.1348/147608302320365307

15.

Husserl

(1964). The phenomenology of internal time consciousness. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

16.

Husserl

(1970). Logical investigations. New York, NY: Routledge.

17.

Jaynes

(1990). The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind. Boston, MA: Mariner.

18.

Kamath

Reddy

Y. C.

Kandavel

(2007). Suicidal behavior in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 68, 1741-1750.

19.

Lewin

A. B.

Piacentini

(2010). Evidence-based assessment of child obsessive compulsive disorder: Recommendations for clinical practice and treatment research. Child & Youth Care Forum, 39, 73-89.

20.

Meichenbaum

(1977). Cognitive-behavior modification: An integrative approach. New York, NY: Plenum Press.

21.

Moran

(2002). Introduction. In Moran

Mooney

(Eds.), The phenomenology reader (pp. 1-26). New York, NY: Routledge.

22.

Moran

Mooney

(2002). The phenomenology reader. New York, NY: Routledge.

23.

Obsessive Compulsive Foundation. (2013). Treatment of OCD. Retrieved from http://www.ocfoundation.org/treatment.aspx

24.

O’Connor

Robillard

(1999). A cognitive approach to the treatment of primary inferences in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 13, 359-375. Retrieved from http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/44457751/cognitive-approach-treatment-primary-inferences-obsessive-compulsive-disorder

25.

Purdon

Rowa

Antony

M. M.

(2005). Thought suppression and its effects on thought frequency, appraisal and mood state in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behavior Research and Therapy, 43, 93-108. doi: 10.1016/S0005-7967(00)00092-9

26.

Rachman

(1997). A cognitive theory of obsessions. Behavior Research and Therapy, 35, 793-802. doi: 10.1016/S0005-7967(97)00040-5

27.

Rachman

DeSilva

(1978) Abnormal and normal obsessions. Behavioral Research and Therapy, 16, 233-248. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(78)90022-0

28.

Rhodes

(2001). Writing organization: (Re)presentation and control in narratives at work. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

29.

Richardson

(2000a). Evaluating ethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 6, 253-255. doi: 10.1177/107780040000600207

30.

Richardson

(2000b). Writing: A method of inquiry. In Denzin

N. K.

Lincoln

Y. S.

(Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 923-948). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

31.

Richardson

St. Pierre

E. A.

(2005). Writing: A method of inquiry. In Denzin

N. K.

Lincoln

Y. S.

(Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 959-978). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

32.

Salkovskis

P. M.

(2007). Role of psychotherapy in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): Past triumphs, current status, and future directions. In Reddy

Y. C.

Srinath

(Eds.), Obsessive compulsive disorder: Current understandings and future directions (pp. 235-270). Bangalore, India: National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.

33.

Schwartz

J. M.

(1996). Brain lock: Free yourself from obsessive-compulsive behavior. New York, NY: Regan Books.

34.

Spry

(2001). Performing autoethnography: An embodied methodological praxis. Qualitative Inquiry, 7, 706-732. doi: 10.1177/107780040100700605

35.

Stein

D. J.

(2007). The obsessive-compulsive spectrum of disorders: Towards DSM-V and ICD-11. In Reddy

Y. C.

Srinath

(Eds.), Obsessive compulsive disorder: Current understandings and future directions (pp. 1-14). Bangalore, India: National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.

36.

Tolman

E. C.

(1948). Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological Review, 55, 189-208.