Washington Commanders kicker Zane Gonzalez became a meme. sunday night football He insisted on focusing on fixing his shoes and hair before lining up for the game-winning kick in the NFL Wild Card Playoffs.
Due to the broadcast team's astonishing lack of awareness, the broadcast team called Gonzalez's behavior “fidgety.” NBC's Twitter account highlighted it, while others called it a “tic.” The truth is that Gonzalez has been open about having obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and it's worth discussing what it is, and importantly, what it isn't. .
What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
OCD is extremely common, with over 200,000 cases diagnosed annually in the United States. Onset of symptoms generally occurs during childhood, but may also occur during hormonal changes during adolescence. Although less common, symptoms may develop in adulthood.
OCD is essentially characterized by two distinct components: obsessions and compulsions. The obsessive component is an uncontrollable, recurrent feeling that something bad will happen, causing a great deal of stress and anxiety. The only way to alleviate these feelings in untreated OCD patients is to satisfy the obsessions with thoughts of varying severity. These compulsions (unlike tics) are conscious actions aimed at suppressing the emotions, fear, and anxiety that result from the compulsion, and the compulsion can snowball. The more the obsession is satisfied, the greater the power of the obsession.
For example, a person may have severe anxiety about leaving the oven on because of the obsessive fear that the house will burn down. So the paired compulsion is to check and make sure the oven is off, but with OCD this is checking to make sure the oven is off 20 or 30 times It can also branch out into additional compulsions, such as leaving the room and re-entering it.
This is further complicated by the fact that people with OCD often have multiple chains of obsessions. This can cause the relatively simple act of leaving the house or going to the bathroom to become a multi-step routine of time-wasting obsessions and compulsions, essentially trapping the individual in an obsession. there is.
“For me at a young age, it had a much bigger impact. It's just a little thought, a little funny habit that I do. I did a lot of research on it. Specifically, the kick I wash my hands beforehand, but I'm a little worried about it. But it's one of the most common things people with OCD do. I don't know why if it's just a placebo effect. But it's not something I like. , it's just a fact and I've learned how to deal with it.”
What Gonzalez describes as “relief” is at the heart of why people with OCD engage in compulsive behavior. People often feel anxious and anxious until they are able to perform the compulsive act. Treatment for OCD extends to drug management, usually in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure-response therapy.
what it's not Obsessive-compulsive disorder?
The most common misrepresentation of OCD in the media is to confuse it with “germophilia” or “germophilia.” This was particularly pernicious in the 2002 TV series monkmain character Adrian Monk was afraid of germs, which he used to comedic effect.
In recent years, the term “OCD” has come to refer to people who say they are organized, orderly, or special, but this can be very unpleasant for people with this disorder. is. A 2009 study found that pollution obsession and cleaning obsession were actually present in a small number of people diagnosed..
Only 1% of the people in the study had a pollution obsession, and only 2% had a combination of pollution and cleaning. This compares to 16% of people surveyed who were anxious to see something and worried about harming others.
There is no single method that can resolve all of these obstacles. Obsessions and compulsions can be quite widespread or very personal, and undiagnosed people often report being trapped in them.
Zan Gonzalez's OCD doesn't define him
Gonzalez told the Charlotte Observer that it's an obstacle he's learned to deal with, but it's not something he likes. No one with OCD enjoys having this disorder. That's why it's harmful to dismiss compulsions as “funny.” Fixing your hair over and over again or adjusting your socks over and over again may seem strange from the outside, but it's a physical symptom of the high amount of anxiety and stress that causes OCD compulsions.
We can celebrate Gonzalez's kick, end the Commanders' playoff drought, and celebrate everything that happened in that moment without talking about what led up to the kick. Gonzalez is a kicker who suffers from OCD, and is not an “OCD kicker” as some have said.
This is a reminder to all of us that what seems strange and outlandish often has a deeper story behind it. And you might as well try and see if there's more to it than meets the eye.
