Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Nadya... did OCD make you have those babies?

Hands down, for me, this is the most interesting thought the media echoed all week. Honestly, I have never thought of OCD in this context. I know Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can make suffers do things they really don't want to, do things they really don't feel good about doing, do things they really don't think are logical, but could it make a mom have more kids?


The obsessive logic here (or lack there of) might be simply obsessiveness about being a mother. The logic might be to have more babies to fill some kind or perceptive void in the mind. I don't think it has anything to do with counting or trying to hit a certain number. But could it? She did control the number of embryos?

Both of Nayda's parents are now publicly questioning her mental-health state. Of course Nadya's current actions may not be OCD actions at all, but may be relative to the cascade of flooding brain chemicals that can be brought on after giving birth to a child, or two, or even 8! In fact, hormone imbalance with respect to the levels of estrogen, progesterone, and cortisol in women can end up causing a state of postpartum psychosis; a serious mental disorder that can require medications or even being institutionalized.

Anyway... on NBC Today Nadya Suleman's mother, Angela, actually said that "...it seems as if she's obsessive compulsive and she needs to keep doing this and I hope she is not. I mean is 14 enough?". This quote happens about three minutes into the embedded video below.


OCD or not, I don't think a mental evaluation for Nadya would hurt anything at this point.

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