Every one of Jonathan DeGorter's DVDs has a specific place, as they're neatly arranged in alphabetical order.
But one time, his friend borrowed a DVD from the systematic collection — and lost it.
"No one knew who had my DVD," the food science junior said. "I went around crazy, like a psycho, and asked where my DVD went. Basically, I was thinking about the DVD instead of doing work. I found it under my best friend's couch about two days later."
Though DeGorter hasn't visited a doctor, he said he thinks he has a minor case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. In high school, he enjoyed organizing and cleaning. Since then, however, he said he has become a little obsessive.
"I'm not like the guy in 'Monk,'" he said. "Basically, when stuff gets dirty, I like to have it cleaned up right away. I like to double-check things every now and then — make sure everything's safe and secure and organized. I always check for my keys, wallet and cell phone to make sure I haven't lost anything valuable."
Dale D'Mello, an associate professor of psychiatry at MSU, said common OCD obsessions include the fear of germs — which is connected to compulsions of constant hand-washing — and the terror that one's house will burn down or be burglarized — which are associated with repeated examinations of electric outlets and locks.
"A young man had an obsession that his home was insecure at night," D'Mello said. "He needed to check and recheck his front door lock. He would spend several hours in the evening doing this before going to bed. It affects the capacity to sleep, to do work.
"Another person felt he ran over someone and needed to retrace his steps to be sure he hadn't done so. He would spend hours on his way to work going over and over the route before he was comfortable."
The obsession with symmetry, characterized by the need for cleanliness and immaculate organization, is connected with the constant rearranging of furniture or spending hours at a time primping and grooming.
Some people with OCD have the fear of losing control, which involves saying or doing something that will hurt someone, D'Mello said. In order to prevent this foreboding event from occurring, the person feels compelled to touch specific objects, mentally rearrange numbers, count or perform other variations of mental gymnastics.
OCD affects about 10 percent of the U.S. population, D'Mello said, which includes all intensities and forms of the disorder. Variations contained in the OCD spectrum include compulsive hair pulling, fingernail biting, tooth brushing and nose picking. Pathological spending and gambling also are included in the spectrum.
"One patient that comes to mind is a young woman who came to us with the fear she was going to take her infant and either put her in the oven or the barbecue grill," he said.
"She thought she would lose control of herself, take the child and burn him. That was the obsession that plagued her, day in and day out, until she was exhausted from not sleeping. She was profoundly depressed."
This patient responded well after taking medication, D'Mello said. Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft are usually the medications of choice and generally are coupled with journaling or behavioral therapy to cure OCD. Specific exposure therapy involves forcing people to face their fears. For example, putting someone's hand in a garbage can and not letting it be washed for a few hours can help eradicate germ fears.
OCD generally occurs in people with family histories of the disorder. Environmental factors, such as experiencing traumatic life-changing events, also can spark OCD. D'Mello treated a patient who had anxieties about meeting new people, a fear that began after he graduated high school and was beginning college. He thought he would lose control and throw a chair at someone.
Horrific events — such as losing a parent or partner, or experiencing conflicts in relationships — also can act as catalysts for OCD.
"In OCD, there's not an obvious connection between an event that occurred and the obsession the patient had," D'Mello said. "The connection may be unconscious. The first episode occurs when one has a disturbing event in one's life."
Cases of pure OCD occur in about 3.4 percent of the population, D'Mello said.
"Not all people with the condition seek treatment," he said. "And not all people with the condition are disabled. Only a small percent have the condition that disables. The majority of people go through life with symptoms.
"The important thing is that these occur in normal-looking people. They might be perfectly intelligent, productive and functional in society. The entire process is within the mind."
Elizabeth Swanson can be reached at swans130@msu.edu.
