If anyone has seen this film from 1997, what do they think of the Jack Nicholson character? Do you think he has Aspergers? I really connected with this character when I first watched it, and have watched the film many times. But it has only this minute dawned on me that he may have Aspergers. He is clearly obsessive compulsive, but I have heard the two go together frequently.
My reaction to the film sums me up quite nicely. He says lots of things which are taken really badly, and I could usually recognise that what he says is bad. But I can't always work out why it is bad.
Is it the one with Helen Hunt?
If it is then I suppose OCD would cover the main things he does, but when I saw it some of the things he did reminded me of myself such as just wanting to say something very bluntly.
Yes, that's the one. I don't think the bluntness is part of OCD, is it? He came across as a character with good intentions, but he couldn't get them across properly. Like he would try to cheer someone up by accidently insulting them.
I wouldnt think so particularly.
Maybe it was just part of his personality, or done for comedy effect.
I wouldnt think so particularly.
Maybe it was just part of his personality, or done for comedy effect.
You could say the same thing about the OCD. But there are some moments for both that are clearly not comical so it was put in there as an integral part of his character. Was it just a personality trait. Maybe partly, but he frequently tries to respond better and fails. I guess it's rare to be able to easily diagnose.
Well he wasnt a real person, just an enactment of the scriptwriters mind.
Yes, I realise that but normally an actor and script writer will have studied real people in depth to build the character. I'm sure it's not entirely accurate, but it's accurate enough for someone to either identify with or not. I'm just interested in what people identify. It's fiction though, so I may not get a good response here I suppose.
I think it was a movie about Aspergers, a nauseating movie about Aspergers. That line that the guy said at the end of the movie, something like "You make me want to be a better man" just made me want to throw something at the screen. I thought the female character was a self-righteous %&*@#, not worth the effort at all.
I think the main character is supposed to have Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. I think OCPD is bollocks. It's just the same thing as AS in my opinion, and doesn't deserve to be a diagnostic category on it's own.
That movie had an outrageously mysogynistic and funny line in it that was the only thing that made the film worth watching for me.
Greetings,
I think it was supposed to be about OCD but whoever wrote it probably didnt have an understanding of adult AS. Someone diagnosed with OCD probably wouldnt have their AS picked up (as was the case with me) especially back then since it was only recognised in this country in 1996 (I dont know about the US). If the film came out in '97 then it was probably written a good while before then.
I think we need to take care not to confuse OCD with OCPD, as they are two quite different conditions, one a mental illness that can be cured, I believe, and the other a "personality disorder" whic generally aren't regarded as treatable.
Greetings,
I dont put too much faith in the whole personality disorder thing myself. From what I've seen, its just another way of putting people into neat categories. Most of us will show strong signs of several if not all of the listed personality disorders. Psychologists dont like this - they want everyone to fit into one of those categories.
In my opinion, OCPD is just a milder form of OCD - the only difference being whether or not it is debilitating. I dont believe there is any curing it either. The neurological causes are the same as those for AS. All you can do is relieve some of the anxiety.
From my reading of the DSM, I think it would be perfectly possible for some person to have OCPD with "bells and whistles" but not have OCD at all, so I honestly can't see how the two conditions of OCD and OCPD could be seen as essentially related to each other.
I think OCPD sounds like a description of an aspie from a non-aspie, hostile point-of-view, while I don't see any essential link between OCD and AS or autism at all. Baron-Cohen made a very clear distinction between OCD type obsessions and autistic type obsessions, to the degree that he proposed that autistic type obsessions not be called "obsessions" but be referred to by another term, so that the two different types of obsessions not be confused. I agree with S B-C.