Social Norms In Housekeeping

In Jeh MacDonald’s short story, “The Possibility of Evil”, Jeh indicates that Mrs. Strangeworth is a nit picking perfectionist that seems to show signs of O.C.D. Specifically, when people ask for one of her luscious red roses Mrs. Strangeworth thinks to herself that, “[these] roses belong on pleasant street... [and] to [even] think of people wanting to carry them away” (1,2). It indicates that it’ just too hard for her to even think of something being out of place. Somebody with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder might also experience thoughts and feelings similar to that exact same thought. Not only did she not like things out of place, “Miss Strangeworth hated sloppiness” (3). Even if it was just Mrs.Chandler’s ratty messy hair.

Sonya is likely experiencing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It is the disorder that exhibits recurrent obsessions and/or compulsions (Nevid pg. 189). Obsessions are recurrent and intrusive thoughts (189). In this case study,Sonya admitted that she was a lifelong worrier. She also states that she repeatedly in a state of anxiousness or worriness (frets) about her family’s health, her future, and finances ( 189). Compulsions are repetitive behaviors that the person feels compelled to perform ( 189). Sonya has exhibit some compulsions in her perfectionistic tendencies. In Sonya childhood, she reviewed her homework assignments multiple times for “careless mistakes”. She even stated that she spent three times as long on homework than other children. In high school, she was very preoccupied in her appearance. She would iron her clothes the night before class. The next morning, she would check for wrinkles. If she find a wrinkle, she would iron her clothes again. Perfectionist’s beliefs involves exaggerating the consequences of submitting less than perfect work. They might feel compelled to redo their works until every detail is flawless (190). For example, Sonya states that

A “normal person” can be considered many different things, depending on the viewpoint of the person. Often times one would consider a “normal person” to be a person without any sort of mental illness. A normal person is someone who adapts to the norms and standards of society.

Society tends to have a set definition of what “normal” means as well as how people should behave. The view a population has on normality is an outcome of culture, individuals, and the environment that surrounds it. A person is raised to regard behavior in a certain way, which tends to result in them having a fixed opinion of what is acceptable. An issue of this phenomenon arises when people cannot endure others having a different standpoint on what is customary. It causes individuals to argue and leads to the inferior giving in, submitting to those whose views are much more socially accepted. When the majority pressures their opinions on

One of the more obvious disorders that were shown was Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder which is, one’s inflexibility and fixation on rules, procedure, and orderliness, the main difference between OCD and OCPD is they do not perform constant meaningless rituals. Some symptoms are anxiety about time, cleanliness, and worry about money which causes them to work more than needed. What causes OCPD is not entirely clear but psychologist believe it is a combination of genetics and environment. One of the scenes that display OCPD was when Joan and her maids were cleaning her house and one of her maids forgot to move a pot when she waxed the floor which caused a ring of dirt and Joan said, “I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at the dirt.” then her current boyfriend showed up and she forgot

Obsessive- compulsive personality disorder, or OCD is very well known around the world because some of us believe that we have it. OCD is when a person is becomes anxious about certain subjects like rules, cleanliness, money, or other obsessions on a day-to-day basis (Rathus, 2010, p. 507). In the movie Mommie Dearest it is very clear that Joan has a big OCD problem. In the beginning of the movie, the scene starts with her getting ready for the day and how it has to be exactly the same at the exact same time, or everything will fall apart. Another example of Joan’s OCD is the cleanliness of her house. She would go around her house with a white glove and test for dust because she needed things clean, which is one of her anxieties. If it wasn’t cleaned correctly, she would

This book explores the reader to rethink their opinions on social and physical normality. The title suggests that normality shouldn’t be defined so critically and that those of diversity and marginalization should be included. In this instance, the focus is upon the normalcy of those who are transgender. “One image of us that went viral showed us standing in our bathing suits with the caption: ”Does this couple look normal? Because they are.” The intention of the caption may have been good, but what did it even mean by normal? That we passed as cisgender? Were heterosexual?? White? Able-bodied? Attractive? If one of us hadn’t been any of those things, would they still have called us normal?” pg

What is normal? Normal, like the word love, has no true definition and will differ with every person you ask. Defined in the dictionary normal is “to conform to a particular standard” or “desired pattern”. I believe most people will say a normal person is one whom is free from defect, handicap and mental illness. Medicalization is a social process through which a previously normal human condition whether is be behavioral, physiological or emotional, becomes a medical problem in need of treatment. For example, not long ago being a shy person, “being reserved or having or showing nervousness or timidity in the company of other people”, was common and something most people experienced at some points in their lives. However, now shyness

In all aspects of the lives we live, normal can not ever be defined as a single idea. If normal is such a thing at all, it is a subjective opinion and can only be defined on an individual level. Everything we interpret is relative to our upbringing and our environment. Not one person had the same upbringing or lived in the same environment as another person for even siblings who have lived together their whole lives have different nurturing experiences. The differentiation between normal and abnormal is a topic of much debate. The meaning of normality varies in many ways such as by person, time, place, situation, culture and set of values. Normality is usually seen as good and desirable by society and what society thinks while abnormality may be seen as bad or undesirable (Boundless).

When we say normal, we take in to mind what we see on TV and in magazines. TV plays the biggest part in our country's depiction of normal because pretty much every household has a television. If you asked majority of Americans what their idea of a normal family was, they would probably describe something similar to my family; two married parents, a few children, living in a ranch style house, in a middle class neighborhood. Even though this is our idea of normal, it really doesn't seem that way anymore. TV families are changing, and fewer "normal" families can be seen on today's sitcoms. The divorce rate is always getting higher, more and more families are moving into brand new subdivisions, and getting away from the normal seems to be the thing to do these days. I think that the vision of "normal" is slowly changing, mainly because the middle-class families are changing. To me, middle-class and normal go hand in hand.

“In people with (OCD) obsessive- compulsive disorder, there is an excessive need for orderliness and attention to detail, perfectionism, as well as overly rigid ways of relating to others (Nevid and Rathus 293).” Martin is a very demanding individual and has an obsession to have everything in order. For examples, towels have to be evenly spaced with the same length on the towel rack and canned foods have to face label forward, as well as neatly stacked in the cabinet. Martin’s overall main crisis is his obsession with his wife, Laura, is he cannot live without her and he won’t let her live without him. He

Darcy’s first recollection of having obsessions occurs when her grandmother died this was also shortly before her father relocated the family to a big city where the compulsions began. Her grandmother’s death is a very plausible cause to her OCD because it made her feel lonely and full of grief which carried over to her adjustment into a completely new and different environment. The emotions of grief and loneliness could’ve caused her obsessions to develop as a result of her new fears of experiencing more grief and loneliness. These new obsessions eventually led to compulsions to prevent her fears from ever coming true. This can be seen in the idea that her obsessions focus on not doing anything socially unacceptable. It is very common that a tragic event in one’s death can lead to the result of obsessions. In order to treat Darcy’s case of OCD, I would recommend addressing the issue of her grandmother’s death with Darcy in order to help her cope and come to acceptance. I would recommend this because it is clear that her grandmother’s death had a huge impact on her life and was something that she was never able to properly address which the relocation of her family can be partially blamed for. After Darcy had come to terms with grandmother’s death, I would then recommend exposure therapy paired with cognitive behavioral therapy. Many studies pertaining to OCD have shown that the pairing of exposure therapy with CBT is very effective with the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder. I believe that the same results would be produced in this case if it was use. In this case, exposure therapy would be used to expose Darcy to death and to show her that it is inevitable rather than the result of something that Darcy did wrong. After being exposed to this concept, it is then crucial to use CBT to change Darcy’s misconceptions

When a person thinks of things as being normal, many different things may come to mind. Society has trained and conditioned a person based on what has been around them throughout the majority of their life to be the normal life to them. Being born into a technologically advanced society will change what is considered normal, like the way the reader looks at the novel Brave New World and thinks it is an odd culture and society to live with. The real world today may end up as the society portrayed in the novel. Will this be considered normal eventually, or will it be just as taboo to future

This case study was particularly fascinating in following the life of Karen Rusa and her obsessive compulsion disorder. It is interesting to study her childhood, present life, on-set symptoms she was experiencing, and the treatment she underwent. Though Karen withstood various trials that her OCD and depression effected greatly, I believe she received the best treatment to help her recover.

In simplest terms, normalcy is the state of being normal. Likewise, gender normalcy is what is expected from each gender in our society due to the gender roles that we have learned from the media, our ancestors, and our society as a whole; the media, however, is the main agent of gender normalcy.