At school, Charlie had been an enthusiastic student with particular abilities in chemistry and biology.  He was a very easy going boy with a friendly and playful disposition.  There had been talking of him pursuing a medical career. However, at about the age of 12, he had started to wash compulsively.  There appeared to be no reason why this behavior started, but washing took up more and more of his time each day.
 
He tried to keep his obsessive-compulsive symptoms under control during the time he was at school.  However, over months, his resistance weakened and his OCD became so severe that his time-consuming rituals took over his life.
 
Charlie was forced to leave school because he was spending so much of the day washing.  His washing ritual always followed the same deliberate pattern.  He would hold the soap under the water spray for one minute in his right hand and then out of the water for one minute in his left hand.  he would repeat this for at least one hour.  After washing for about three hours, Charlie would spend about two hours getting dressed.
 
Charlie’s mother discouraged his strange washing rituals, but later, not wanting to see his misery ‘helped him’ by obsessively cleaning items in the house with alcohol and stopped people from entering the house with their ‘germs.’  Charlie’s father could not understand these behaviors and spent more and more time at work.
 
VIDEO LINK:
 
Research, explain, and discuss:
 
Describe your overall assessment of Charlie’s behavior?
 
What type of therapy, if any, would you recommend?
 
What do you think about medication for this type of OCD and a 12 yr. old boy?
 
Describe the family challenges, impact on learning, impact on socialization and life span development, etc.?
 
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Minimum of 3 substantive posts (ON 3 SEPARATE DAYS) in addition to your DQ posts.
 
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Include research to expand your content.