Dear Dr. Heller,
My brother has been diagnosed as having borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality and OCD. He is not on any medicine now but has been on many in the past. He is a very lonely 55 year old man with no hobbies,no interest and nothing to do with his time.
One of the facets of his OCD is to seek reassurance. When thoughts enter his mind he feels the need to write them down on paper and the thoughts and the compulsiveness to write down these thoughts are very immobilizing to him. He does not like doing this. Most of the notes he writes down have to do with his own safety. EX: A friend carried a futon up his apt steps to give to my brother. My brother told me he wrote a note stating that he went up the steps first so the futon didn't fall on him. Once my neighbor came over and pounded a stake in my garden with a big rock. My brother was outside and wrote a note that he hit the stake and not him.
When my brother says his prayers he must write down the time he started and the time he stopped. Is this a symptom of OCD? What do these notes mean and what can he do about these notes. He knows these things didn't happen but he has to reassure himself by writing them down.
Please help.
ANSWER:
Yes, many of these symptoms are consistent with OCD. He's likely got many diagnoses that need to be treated. OCD and the BPD are, in my opinion, medical problems that respond to medications. I encourage you to give him information. This website has lots of available resources for him.
