The Ratman and OCD

The Ratman Landmark Case Study and OCD

1) In his 'Rat Man' case study, Freud referred to the neurotic subject as being unable to accept change in their surroundings, with pronounced difficulties in managing life patterns, and a resistance in the pursuit of satisfying experiences.

*These are really kind if key ideas from the paper. there the is a kin of maladaptiveness in the neurotic person in terms of facing the discomfort in their environment, you know, the discomfort in their surroundings. 

*There is a need almost for wanting to exert the control over the things in their life that seem so chaotic that are outside of their control. 

*And so there's a need to kind of enhance how much control they might be able to exert. 

*So it's almost like if you can imagine what how we now define the obsessive compulsive disorder diagnosis.

*I feel like that illuminates a lot of what we understand in neurosis itself. 

*Because the person has as says her, pronounced difficulties in managing the patterns of their life. 

*In OCD. Oftentimes, the sufferer will feel compelled to perform rituals, but that activity in itself. Is a response to how vulnerable they feel in relation to changing aspects and factors in their surroundings, in their environment. So by performing the ritual. It feels soothing it feels like a relief or even an escape from the lack of control they feel otherwise, from the chaotic environment or chaotic surroundings. 

*The performance of the ritual, gives a feeling just the kind of, it's almost like a Pantomime of control. Over life that they otherwise do not feel they would be able to control. So it becomes very tempting to continue performing the ritual. 

*This obviously is a very specific manifestation of neurosis that we see in OCD but it can take subtler forms if doesn't always have to be like a ritualized, habit like hoarding or counting or washing or checking or you know any of the typical OCD behaviors. It can be other more subtle things. But always undercutting this, always kind of underlying this is the resistance and the pursuit of satisfying experiences. 

*That is the joy gets sucked out of everyday life and there's almost like a kind of rejection of the joyful elements. There's paradoxically it shouldn't be the case and Freud had to of course revise his theory because initially he believed that people were always in pursuit of pleasure, always in pursuit of joy and happiness but it turns out that a lot of repetitive behavior. Seem to be people chasing things that they actually, it made them miserable. 

*So I'm really interested in, you know, what is behind this? What should it be? That some people end up wanting to do things that cause them pain. Why are they resisting absorbing, satisfying experiences?

*This is so much a part of neurosis. It is something I'm interested in highlighting in these films. 

*Mary says, I'm not being a cheerleader hoping that neurosis will make it back into the DSM. I'm more interested in neurosis as a theoretical concept of how pervasive it is in terms of how it we can, where how we can see it manifest culturally even. and something about it as being more of a tendency. So we will look at neurosis on film.