Judaism and well, Anxiety!

↑ amother

Tue, Aug 29 2006, 12:39 pm

Oy, don't get me started on this topic! Many in dh's family (including dh) suffer from OCD. They completely latched onto frumkeit issues for their disorder. Washing negel vasser until their hands are raw and bleeding (just in case they forgot to do it upon waking or if they dozed off for a cat nap). Checking and quadruple checking for a kosher hechsher symbol. Saying brachot repeatedly over and over and over and over (which actually, winds up that they are saying Hashem's name in vain for no reason, even though they are trying to make sure they did it right). Saying phrases like "chas v'" or "B"H" repeatedly like 10 times over in rapid succession. One of the boys took not touching girls to such an extreme that if he accidentally touched his mom/grandma/sisters he would scream and run to the shower because he felt they were dirty or poison to touch.

They would have had OCD issues regardless of frumkeit - but since that was their way of life, they attached the disorder to those rituals/words/and things that are no-nos in the frum world like negiah. They certainly should never get involved in kiruv!

↑ chen

Tue, Aug 29 2006, 1:33 pm

generally speaking, what distinguishes "the upper limit of normal" from "abnormal" is whether or not the behavior interferes with the person's ability to function. It's not so much a question of what you do, but how much you do it. Human behavior covers a very wide range, but once the behavior interferes with the activities of everyday life, it is no longer "normal". Obviously, this varies from society to society.