In this chapter, “OCD: Now and Forever”, Davis explains how OCD changed from being one of the most rare diseases before the 1970’s, and how now it is one of the most common disorders today. This change wasn’t a small one. Davis points out how before only one in twenty thousand people had OCD and how it increased to three out of a hundred, and yet again increased to one in ten all in the range of just thirty years! One of the reasons that Davis says why this disorder seemed to increase so much is because of the media exposure. According to the media exposure theory, more people have come forward and seemed to have confessed of having some of the same symptoms or feelings that they have heard on the radio or seen on TV, about 16 percent in fact. Also, when it comes to Y-BOCS (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Scale), many people say that this isn’t very valid for various reasons like having a “leading the witness” effect, which probably lead more people to think they have OCD when they really don’t. Another topic Davis touches upon is how now many books and psychologists are referring to OCD as a “hidden epidemic”. He even points out the Osborn book, “Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals: The Hidden Epidemic of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder”, that we read. Overall, OCD is a very difficult and complex disorder, and it is very difficult to determine why a person has it.
I agree that it is a very complex disorder because people that believe they check too many times to see if the stove was turned off, or the lights turned out, have been accused of having OCD. As we have discussed in class, the in depth understanding between just checking the stove repetitively as we are leaving the house, to just checking excessively every time you walk past a kitchen, I have gotten a bettwer understanding.I've definitely categorized myself, as overdoing the checking until the difference was explained in class.
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