Guy feels like he’ll never be clean. No matter where he is or what he is doing, he can’t stop the thought that everything and everyone is contaminating him from his mind. Because of this he washes his hands all the time and applies hand sanitizer whenever he touches anything. The reason why Guy feels and acts like this is because he has a psychological disorder. To have a psychological disorder, you show the 4 D’s. The first D stands for deviant and means you do something wrong like cheating on your final exams or stealing from a store. The second D stands for distressful which means that you are unhappy or make other people feel unhappy. This could happen if you put down yourself or someone you know. The third D stands for dysfunctional and this means that it stops you from your everyday routine. For example, you don’t show up to your job. The last D stands for dangerous and this means you hurt yourself or others. For example, you don’t wear your seatbelt or you hit others trying to tell you what to do. 

Now back to my guy Guy. Guy is 20 years old and he has OCD. OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The minute Guy opened his eyes he had a strong feeling that his blankets touching his body contaminated him. Contaminate means to make dirty. This feeling Guy had was so strong that he couldn’t focus on anything else until he was in the shower scrubbing with a loofa. Once Guy opened the car door to go to school he got the same thought that he was being attacked by germs from the car handle, so he put on a lot of hand sanitizer. When he got to school he got the thought that walking through the hall with all the other students contaminated him, so he went to the bathroom to wash his hands and was late for first period. Just by turning the doorknob of the classroom, Guy feels re-contaminated and applies hand sanitizer once he gets to his seat. In fact, he washes his hands or puts on hand sanitizer any times he touches things or is around other people. This is a problem because it disrupts his routine in school and distracts him from his work. He also refuses to shake people's hands or even to hug his mom because he doesn’t want to pick up germs. Guy’s obsessive thoughts about germs and compulsion to wash his hands complicates his life and the lives of others. 

Why does Guy have these obsessive thoughts and compulsions? The exact cause of OCD is unknown but there are several theories. Research shows that areas of the brain may not respond normally to a brain chemical called serotonin that some nerve cells use to communicate with each other. Genetics also play a role and when Guy’s mom was a in her early 20s she had obsessive thoughts of everything having to be in order. With what is going on in Guy’s brain and his family history, it’s not surprising that he suffers this disorder.