Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
After opening up to the public in 2009 about his struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, famed America’s Got Talent judge Howie Mandel shares new details about living with the condition. In a recent interview with Popeater.com, a website for entertainment news and celebrity information, Mandel provides insight into living with an unshakable fear of germs while traveling and acting as judge on NBC’s popular variety show. Like many with OCD, Mandel addresses his deep-rooted fear of germs by engaging in rituals, known as compulsions to alleviate the tensions created by his anxiety. For sufferers of OCD, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can often help alleviate these obsessive rituals. Monitoring systems, such as the ABCtracker™, can help reduce these fears by tracking the triggers, alarms, beliefs and coping mechanisms related to these thoughts. For Mandel, despite being a germophobe, his constant travels force him to confront his biggest fear: hotel rooms and bedbugs. He always travels with a magnifying glass and black light and never touches hotel sheets, comforters or towels, instead bringing his own linens everywhere, sealed in plastic. As a California resident, he makes sure to fly back—only on a private airplane to ensure cleanliness—on the same day when his trips take him west of the Mississippi, and he maintains a home in Toronto, Canada for Northeast visits. Rather than shaking hands, he fist-bumps, and jokes that he would be better suited for life in Japan where introductions are generally sealed with a bow. Though originally he sported a bald head for a movie, he notes that because it felt so clean to him, he kept it. A chronic and often debilitating condition, OCD is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States. Many, like Mandel, first experience symptoms in childhood, with an estimated 2 percent of Americans diagnosed with the condition at some point in their lifetime. Also like Mandel who reported also dealing with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a child, many patients often are diagnosed with additional psychiatric disorders. People with OCD experience relentless and negative thoughts and fears, known as obsessions. Some common obsessions include fear of germs, worries about having forgotten to do something important such as locking a door or shutting off an oven, or needing things in a particular order. The obsessions often trigger compulsions, or routines and rituals that may or may not be related to the original fear but serve to ease the anxiety they cause. Hence, many will engage in repeated hand-washing, excessive checking of doors, or unexplainable behaviors that nonetheless provide relief. The compulsions only ease the fears temporarily, however, with the patient ultimately engaging in a vicious and disruptive cycle of time-consuming and senseless behaviors. Visit anxiety.org for more information.
Citation preview
Howie Mandel shares more about OCD
Read more about OCD on
Anxiety.org
What is OCD?
The main symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is the presence of obsessions or
compulsions (or both)
Learn more about OCD at anxiety.org
Howie Mandel lives with an
unshakable fear of germs
Howie Mandel travels with a
magnifying glass and a black light
Howie flies on a private jet to manage his fear of germs
Rather than shaking hands, Howie Mandel fist-bumps, and jokes
that he would be better suited for life in Japan where introductions are generally sealed
with a bow
A chronic and often debilitating condition, OCD is one of the
most common mental illnesses in the United States
More than
2,200,000 Americans are diagnosed
with OCD
Help is available, and Howie Mandel acknowledged that without his ongoing
therapy and medication treatment, he could easily become engulfed by the condition
Monitoring systems, such as the
ABCtracker™, can help by tracking the
triggers, alarms, beliefs and coping
mechanisms related to OCD fears.
http://www.anxiety.org/abc
Learn more about OCD
Anxiety.org
