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After last week’s premiere of Obsessed, the new Intervention-like show about people with extreme anxiety disorders that they’re desperate to tame, I said it wasn’t sensational or exploitative. I stand by the not-exploitative part, because I really do think people are being helped (both on the show and out there in the world), but, um, yeah, after last night: it’s kinda sensational. But if that’s what it takes to help all those people! Once again, last night’s show had two subjects, Nicole and Trina. Nicole’s disorder is rare in that it’s centered around just two people: her mother and her brother. Nicole can’t stand certain things they do with their hands, like touch something softly, or when her mother says the hard “K” sound. She responds by chiding them about “soft hands,” by repeating the hand motion they made, but harder, or by loudly saying the “K” sound herself. It’s weird but not unlike a lot of less extreme forms of the disorder, and again, variety is the essence of OCD. Watching Nicole frustratedly reminding her mother and brother last night, it occurred to me that her OCD would be cured if her family members would just LEARN THE GODDAMN RULES.
Trina, on the other hand, had a totally different anxiety disorder. Trina looks like a mild-mannered, quiet, sweet student, but she secretly wants to kill everyone she sees with a knife or a gun. Eek. They’ve gone there already.
The show focuses on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, where the subject is forced to become used to changing his or her response to whatever triggers their compulsions through repeated exposure to the triggers. In Nicole’s case, she had to sit there and not make a sound while her mother read aloud from a passage containing instances of the hard “K” sound, and while her mother and brother broke the soft hand rules repeatedly. Nicole’s therapist, Dr. Craig, was more like an interventionist, hosting the family therapy and keeping everyone on track. Dr. Shana, the doctor who pretended to have her period all over her subject’s bathroom last week to expose him to his germ compulsions, on the other hand, gave Trina a bunch of knives and asked her to try to kill her:
Now, OBVIOUSLY Dr. Shana is a professional, and knows Trina isn’t going to kill her (though a few minutes later in the show, Trina held a gun, but not pointed at anyone, so…). I just think it’s interesting that the other two doctors we’ve seen have kept very professional boundaries, while Dr. Shana is all about everyone working their shit out on her body. Basically, where I’m going with this is Dr. Shana is the star of this show and should be in every episode. What Jeff Van Vonderen was to Intervention, Dr. Shana is to Obsessed. She even has her own catchphrase already: “Can I get a zero to ten on (name of trigger)?” (Though it’s very unlikely that she’ll ever beat last week’s out-of-the-gate commenter-quoted gem, “Can I get a zero to ten on tampon residue and vaginal secretions?”) You can watch the entire episode on repeats or on the A&E site.
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I must watch this. It sounds fascinating, and I enjoyed Intervention enough awhile ago.
How is she just sitting there with a knife to her throat? I’m at a 9 just watching that clip. Vaginal secretions is just so much more my thing.
” but she secretly wants to kill everyone she sees with a knife or a gun.”
no, she doesn’t want to kill anybody, she is SCARED she will kill someone, her worst fear is she is going to kill someone. That is why the therapist felt so safe letting her hold the knife, because she woudn’t hurt a fly. It’s a completetly irational fear that she could snap and kill someone.
“DO IT. DO IT TRINA. FULFILL YOUR DESTINY”
what i’m saying is, i’m concerned for dr. shana.
can we make this a weekly v’gum feature, plox? i mean, it looks much better and almost as amusing as The Hills, and it would make us all better people
and it’s not like you have much to watch during summer anyway
can I get a 1-10 on stabbing me in the face? awesome.
that’s not a knife, that’s a ROCK ‘N’ CHOP.
Just put your hand on the patented ROCK AND CHOP® handle and let the blade do the rest!
Anybody else strangely attracted to Dr. Shana?
I learned a little about myself here, “you cannot control your emotions or feelings, but you can control your behavior”… stabby.
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Actually, diagnosed, for over 20 years. And that was an inside joke. (We have those too!) I know insensitivity and ignorance have happened a lot of places, but, coincidentally, not on this blog, not at this time.
Also diagnosed – solidarity! Hey, I thought it was funny.
Quote: “Well, you better focus on killing me, then.” OMG this is what reality television should be.
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Anyone here like the comedienne Maria Bamford? She’s pretty hilarious and she has a number of issues, including unwanted thoughts syndrome, a form of OCD that seems to be bothering Trina as well. I highly recommend going to YouTube and looking up “the maria bamford show” and watching it in its entirety if you want to see someone addressing their issues with candor and humor.
Dr. Shana is amazing! This show brings to light what OCD does to people, and I for one have a lot more compassion for them. Dr. Shana seems willing to go to great lengths to help them and should be commended for her work. Don’t forget there are a few sessions in between that we don’t see, so no doubt there are professional steps to get to what we see. This is a great reality show that actually helps people. Makes you proud of the human race. Great job Dr. Shana.
Agreed, its a disorder, you can’t just fix it by “following rules.” My uncle has OCD and it prevents him from doing simple daily tasks, among a whole host of things. Its my understanding that this disorder is different for each person. I feel badly for people who suffer from it and hope that increased awareness and therapy can help.
Did you have any more photo’s of Dr.Shana – like the screen shot you have of her on this page. I just think she’s amazing .
They are doing a second season of Obsessed, if anyone is interested.
I am a therapist and I don’t agree that she has boundary problems. Is she trying to be friends with her patients? No. Is she punishing or rescuing her patients? No. Exposure and Response Prevention is a very specific form of therapy that is well known to treat OCD quickly and effectively. It looks different than traditional therapy, but it works. Patients come to therapy because they want relief from their symptoms and Dr. Shana is providing that. These are people who are otherwise fairly well-adjusted, but struggle with OCD. Her methods eliminate it in a systematic way. She is not interested in talking about patient’s fears and problems in an office, but helping them face and overcome them and build a sense of mastery, so that they no longer need therapy.
To the writer of this article, you need to at least pay attention to the show next time you decide to write an article about it. The girl doesn’t want to kill anyone, that was just her fear. The Doctor let her hold a knife to her throat to prove to the girl that she doesn’t want to hurt anyone. The Doctor clearly said “I’m letting you do this because I know your a good person and you won’t harm me”. Pay attention before you put some B.S. online! I have OCD so I take this personally.