A Figure Of OCD
In The Things They Carried, O'Brien illustrates obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) through the story of lieutenant Jimmy Cross and Martha. In modern medicine, physiologists define OCD as obsessive and/or compulsive behaviors significantly interfering with a person's daily life; in reality a person spends so much time on their obsessions or compulsions that they neglect their daily life and responsibilities. Also, psychologists assert that people with OCD know that their thoughts are irrational, and they try to compensate for their OCD through a variety of coping mechanisms. First, Cross’s continuing fixation with Martha demonstrates a hallmark sign of OCD in which one continues to obsess over someone even though they know that their obsession …show more content…
Through Jimmy Cross’ deliberate handling of Martha’s letters and pictures, O’Brien illustrates the methodical OCD behaviors. When “after a day’s march, he [will] dig a foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending [he was with Martha]” (O'Brien 2). Furthermore when Jimmy Cross acknowledges that this twenty year obsession irrational because Martha does not have even one pittance of love for him. Moreover O’Brien shows how OCD can take over one’s world in his description of how Jimmy Cross neglects his duties as a troop leader, and lets his guard down, and allows one of his soldiers to be killed because of his obsession over Martha. Jimmy Cross, “[loves] Martha more that his men, and as a consequence Lavender [is] now dead,” (O'Brien 16). An important factor in diagnosing OCD is that one’s obsessions and/or compulsions must negatively impact their daily lives and certainly this is exemplified when one of Cross’ men is killed because Jimmy, so engrossed in the idea of Martha, than his duties. Cross’s actions also exemplify how OCD patients develop coping mechanisms to
In The Things They Carried, O'Brien illustrates obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) through the story of lieutenant Jimmy Cross and Martha. In modern medicine, physiologists define OCD as obsessive and/or compulsive behaviors significantly interfering with a person's daily life; in reality a person spends so much time on their obsessions or compulsions that they neglect their daily life and responsibilities. Also, psychologists assert that people with OCD know that their thoughts are irrational, and they try to compensate for their OCD through a variety of coping mechanisms. First, Cross’s continuing fixation with Martha demonstrates a hallmark sign of OCD in which one continues to obsess over someone even though they know that their obsession …show more content…
Through Jimmy Cross’ deliberate handling of Martha’s letters and pictures, O’Brien illustrates the methodical OCD behaviors. When “after a day’s march, he [will] dig a foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending [he was with Martha]” (O'Brien 2). Furthermore when Jimmy Cross acknowledges that this twenty year obsession irrational because Martha does not have even one pittance of love for him. Moreover O’Brien shows how OCD can take over one’s world in his description of how Jimmy Cross neglects his duties as a troop leader, and lets his guard down, and allows one of his soldiers to be killed because of his obsession over Martha. Jimmy Cross, “[loves] Martha more that his men, and as a consequence Lavender [is] now dead,” (O'Brien 16). An important factor in diagnosing OCD is that one’s obsessions and/or compulsions must negatively impact their daily lives and certainly this is exemplified when one of Cross’ men is killed because Jimmy, so engrossed in the idea of Martha, than his duties. Cross’s actions also exemplify how OCD patients develop coping mechanisms to