The OCD House and other TV shows
Channel 4 announced their new season of programmes yesterday. One programme that jumped out at us was one provisionally entitled The OCD House. Here are some more details direct from the press release:
"Three people with extreme obsessive compulsive disorders (OCDs) agree to live together as part of a ground-breaking experiment in an attempt to cure them through a new kind of group therapy.
"Wendy Johnstone hasn't shared a bed with her husband or even touched her twin children for five years, confining herself to one room in her home which no one is allowed to enter. Gerard McAree is terrified of any human contact for fear he might incriminate himself. He can't leave phone messages, refuses to write anything down and walks around in public with a mouthful of water to stop himself from talking. Sophie Prossmer spends three hours a day washing her hands and can't bring herself to walk on grass.
"Over the past 20 years, all three have tried medication, assorted therapies and even contemplated lobotomy in order to rid themselves of their OCDs. In this last ditch attempt at salvation, they agree to share a house in London and put themselves in the hands of a team of therapists from the Psychiatric Unit of London's Maudsley Hospital.
"Wendy, Gerard and Sophie's journey to overcome the debilitating effects of their illness proves more intense and surprising than anyone, including their doctors, could ever have imagined."
The OCD House is due to air some time before the end of August.
While we're on the subject of that other big public service broadcaster, they have a couple of other shows that feature disabled people over the next 7 days. We thought you'd like to know about them:
Sunday 29 May, 11.00pm: DV8: The Cost of Living - the 'legless dancer' stars in cerebral dance drama production that has toured round the world and now comes to TV. Set in a Norfolk seaside town, it features a series of inter-linked scenes and striking dance vignettes that show the main characters' encounters with other people living on the fringe.
According to one commentator, the title refers to: "the price we pay for competing in a society obsessed by image."
Tuesday 7 June, 9.00pm: Make Me Normal - Documentary. Follows four children at the Spa School for autistic children. Moneer (12) has Asperger's Syndrome, and reacts violently to the death of his mother. Roy (18) is in his final year at school and wants a girlfriend. Roxanne (12) wants to be normal and finds it painful coming to terms with the condition. Esther (18) has a special gift for explaining the autistic world. (text taken from Radio Times).
Comments
Big brother offers sex but this reality show offers, err, hand-washing?
Next step up from the 1900 house?
There are over 2 million (known) sufferers of OCD in Britain alone, the programe is an insight to what some sufferers experience; indeed it intends to educate the viewers and the treatment they received. This is a documentary not a reality show as such made for/by the science department. Please watch the OCD house and perhaps then comment?
Q: How to trivialise OCD? A: Put it on a reality show I think this is a terrible way to show the general public what a disabilitating and life wrecking illness this is - surely this can be done in a more more sympathetic way?
message for editor: should have read - 'and show the treatment that we received'. Please could you update. Thanks.
One of the participants it has helped greatly. The comment posted by MP3ed just shows the usual stereotype of ocd about consisting of handwashing. Their comment just shows how little the general public actually know about OCD. This is not a reality show, it is a documentary explaining and showing how debilitaiting this condition can be. Each participant receives intensive CBT and we can follow i'm sure a very moving and emotional journey as to how they get on. The maudsley hospital is where the top uk OCD Therapist works. The Maudlsey Hospital clinic for anxiety disorders is the only clinic in the UK that deals with specifically OCD. The present waiting list time to attend the clinic at the maudsley is 2 years. Unfortunately, this just shows the lack of resources the uk has for dealing with anxiety disorders such as ocd which is listed amongst the top 10 most debilitating illnesses by the World Health Organisation. OCD affects at least 2-3% of the UK population.
I suffer from OCD or trichotillomania and i know many sufferers all the same and we never seem to get any kind of publicity. Why?
This is a basic sterrotype of OCD, OCD has many forms and hand washing is just a basic stereotype. The aim of this show is to bring OCD to light and not just offer 'sex', as someone put. If that is all someone wants to see that is very pathetic.
I think OCD needs major publicity like this show. I have been a sufferer for 34 years and only recently found out that there is more than one type - so why would non-sufferers know either?
to say that ocd involves just handwashing, implies that you know very little about it, other than the stereotypes there are out there. ocd is more than handwashing. intrusive thoughts and images. therefore i hope this programme sheds some light onto the disorder.
Because I live in the U.S., I became aware of this Ö÷²¥´óÐã television program only after doing a Google search on "OCD". It is now October of 2006 and I am very interested to know how this program was received and if it is still on the air--or perhaps the individuals with OCD have by now been replaced with new OCD patients? Most importantly, is there any way that I can get videotapes or DVD's of this program?