I have a habit of not updating this thing often enough. I need to work on that whole consistency thing in the midst of the rest of life’s distractions.
Class has just resumed. I’ve been back in town about a week now after driving back and forth across the state for almost a week. Being back at school is almost a relief to the constant driving.
This block our focus is on neurology. From the first day it is pretty apparent that it will be a challenge; just the terminology alone makes neurology seem its own language apart from medicine as a whole. On the other hand, learning about the brain is paired with learning about behavioral sciences. Currently, we’ve been having lectures on substance abuse and sexual behavior.
I was talking to a fellow classmate today about why we’re both interested in the potential medical fields we are. He plans to specialize in one of the most intensive medical fields there is, if not the most intensive field there is. I don’t doubt for one minute he will fail to go so far; he is undoubtedly one of the top three or five in my class of 96. His reasons why though, were far more interesting.
Alone in our lab, he explained that he needed something that would quote, consume his life. He said that to avoid boredom, he would need something that would constantly demand more learning, more perfection of skill, and always demand his time.
Obsessive-Compulsive disorder is often seen through what we hear anecdotaly or see in the media (for instance, Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets). People are portrayed as always washing their hands, counting their footsteps, going crazy if the coffee table isn’t oriented at 38 degrees to the corner armchair, etc. However, obsessive compulsive disorder is a combination of both obsession and compulsion. Obsession, by itself, may not so readily be noticed depending on the circumstances.
WebMD.com defines obsessions as “recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas, and impulses that interrupt normal thinking and cause anxiety or fear.” Listed further is “An excessive need to do things perfectly or correctly.” Now, there are lots of other obsessions that people may develop besides the washing hands germophobic lifestyle keep-my-place-just-how-I-leave-it. There are countless reports week after week, month after month, of stalkers following individuals who range from ex-girlfriends or boyfriends to famous people. There are sex or drug addicts, who are obsessed with fulfilling a desire deep inside. Less reportedly are the Nobel prize winners, the historical inventors, the humanitarians (see these following thoughts).
People like Thomas Edison, for instance. Thomas Edison invented our filament lightbulbs that we use worldwide to provide light to work by, to read by, and to navigate by. He is easily to be noted among the great inventors and contributors to society in the history of the who world. Less likely to be reported is the countless failures he had time after time in his quest to produce a constant electrical source of light. Those close to him, friends and family, undoubtedly would have found him odd to be so fixated on a goal so singular in nature.
Now, I’m not labeling my friend an obsessor just yet. After all, we’ve not studied psychological illness yet, and I haven’t a copy of the DSM IV at hand to consult with. But I will definitely be curious to see how many other good people out there are, deep down, just a little obsessed. Just maybe, we need to be a little obsessed.
