Friday, December 12, 2008

OCD

I recently saw  a program on Oprah about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Granted the people who were on the show were a bit overboard.  One guy couldn't use toilets at all because of his fear of germs.   It seemed a bit extreme to go outside to go to the bathroom, and to me it seems not only dirty, but somewhat dangerous (I would be afraid a bug or snake would crawl into my butt).

Yet,  overall, I thought the fears were merited.  

Today I went to a catered lunch.  About 30 people ate, all circling around the table of food.  

I saw one guy lick his fingers after picking up a chicken leg and then touching the entire pile of napkins.   I also saw another guy pick a bacon piece from a bowl, his fingers grazing up against the other pieces in the bowl.

I was starving, but I could barely eat.  I kept thinking about those licked fingers.

A "project" the OCD people did was to touch the inside of a filthy trash bin and then lick their fingers.  I would rather have OCD then to take such an action because if I had to do this it would have provoked my imaginary parasites.

Sometimes I get preoccupied with the idea I have parasites, specifically worms.  Although I have had this thought in the back of my head for years, it was solidified by a show I recently saw on animal planet.

Sure, the people who had parasites had eaten raw pork, or uncooked octopus off a push cart in Indonesia, still you never know if the guy who licked his fingers has been traveling abroad.

Some call it OCD - I call it just good hygiene.




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