The Bethlem OCD Bully
World renowned OCD expert Stanley Rachman (see image below) today had the honour of unveiling a statue depicting an 'OCD Bully' at the Anxiety Disorders Residential Unit of the Bethlem Royal Hospital.
The 'OCD Bully' sculpture was the idea of the team at the Anxiety Disorders Residential Unit led by Dr David Veale and has a more practical purpose in allowing OCD sufferers to deposit their OCD safety objects, such as hand wash.
The sculpture, designed by artist Steve Caplin is now proudly on display in the entrance to the Anxiety Disorders Residential Unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital. The unit provides a national specialist service specializing in the treatment of severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).
People with OCD often consider their OCD to be like a bully or a demon that has to be obeyed. During the process of cognitive behaviour therapy, they may be encouraged to 'externalise' their bully and to act against it by doing the opposite to what the bully demands. We decided to enhance the environment at our unit by making a humanoid version of an OCD bully or monster. On the outside of the bully are various manifestations of OCD – for example a clock that represents the wasted time of compulsions; a toilet seat that is full of 'germs'; knives for fears of being violent; words such as 'Paedophile' and numbers such as “666”. The bully has several eyes to depict the vigilance for threat. A door in its chest opens to reveal a heart of stone. At the base is a broken mirror.
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The humanoid has a more important therapeutic role. It holds a transparent receptacle in which residents are encouraged to give up their various 'safety objects' to the humanoid as a commitment to change. Safety objects are defined as those that are instrumental to aid safety seeking or avoidance behaviors and therefore maintain a person’s obsessional doubts and fears of causing harm. The installation is interactive and therefore evolves over time as each resident makes a donation of a new safety object. Each donation has it’s own story and provides encouragement for a new resident to change by following the example of previous residents who have made the commitment to change. Initial donations have included a pair of handcuffs that someone used to prevent him being violent to others; rubber gloves and alcohol wet wipes which were used to prevent contact with contaminants; a mobile telephone used for seeking reassurance; a hooded pullover to cover a person’s face and a magnifying mirror and implements for skin-picking in a person with BDD. The receptacle is very long and so it is difficult to retrieve items once they have been deposited. It therefore depicts another aspect of OCD – hoarding. When the receptacle is full, another will replace it so that unit will eventually be full of clutter.
The sculpture was unveiled by Stanley Rachman, author of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: The Facts at the Anxiety Disorders Residential Unit of the Bethlem Royal Hospital on the afternoon of Tuesday 9th March 2010.
To find out more about the Anxiety Disorders Residential Unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital please click here (PDF).
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