Caroline

Caroline and Christine Ms. Lobel ELA Block A May 6th, 2009 David Beckham Overcoming OCD David Beckham, originally an English soccer player, is living with OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. How did Beckham live with this illness and still succeed? How has it affected his career? What are some things that he does //because// of OCD? He started his career in England and is now playing for an American team, the LA Galaxy. Some of the things Beckham would have suffered with OCD include excessive worries, doubts, and superstitious beliefs, more than a normal person would. Beckham has overcome this and accomplished many things. He also has different strengths and weaknesses. One strength is accurate passing and one weakness is that his skills are deteriorating. David Beckham was born May 2nd, 1975 in Leytonstone; London, England to his parents Ted and Sandra Beckham. He signed for Manchester United as trainee in July 1991. He helped win the FA Youth Cup in May 1992, by scoring in second leg of the game. He established himself on his first team in the 1996/97 season. He was voted young player of the year in the season of 1996/97. He became the captain of the nation team in England in the season of 1998/99. In the season of 2002/03 he was sold to Real Madrid. Then, in the season of 2005/06 he was sold, yet again, however this time to LA Galaxy. He married Victoria Adams, who is now known as Victoria Beckham. Beckham proposed to Victoria on January 24th, 1998. They got married on July 4th, 1999 at Luttrellstown Castle in Ireland. He has three children, all of them boys, named Brooklyn, Romeo, and Cruz. Brooklyn Joseph was born March 4th, 1999. Romeo James was born September 1st, 2002. Cruz David was born February 20th, 2005 ("Beckham Watch"). OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a medical disorder in the brain that causes problems in the processing of information. In people with OCD, the brain gets stuck on a certain thing, a particular thought or urge, and just cannot let it go. Some people with OCD have said the symptoms are like "mental hiccups that won't go away." Things such as worries, doubts, and superstitious beliefs are normal and common in everyday life. When these become excessive a diagnosis of OCD is made (Obsessive Compulsive Foundation). Wow! That sounds difficult to live with! The symptoms of OCD involve both obsessions and compulsions and people with OCD may have one or the other at times. Obsessions are images, thoughts, or impulses that persist and occur over and over and the person does not feel they have control over them. People with OCD to try to make their obsession go away by performing compulsions. Compulsions are acts a person repeats or performs over and over again. Some of the common obsessions are contamination fears of dirt, germs, est., imagining having harmed others or oneself, imagining that they have lost control or having aggressive urges, intrusive thoughts or urges sexually, excessive moral doubts or religious beliefs, thoughts that are forbidden, needing to have things "just so," and needing to confess, tell, or ask. Some common compulsions are repeating things, washing, checking, touching, and counting (Obsessive Compulsive Foundation). “OCD symptoms can occur in people of all ages. Not all Obsessive-Compulsive behaviors represent illness. Some rituals (e.g., bedtimes songs, religious practices) are a welcome part of daily life. Normal worries, such as contamination fears, may increase during times of stress, such as when someone in the family is sick or dying. Only when symptoms persist, make no sense, cause much distress, or interfere with functioning do they need clinical attention” (Obsessive Compulsive Foundation). However, even when dealing with this illness Beckham has strengths. Strengths David Beckham has are accurate passing and accurate kicks. Another strength Beckham has despite his OCD is direct kick scoring. Wow, that is impressive! He also has weaknesses from OCD as well as weakness that are not from OCD. A weakness he has is that his skills are deteriorating. Another weakness is that people think he is absorbing the lime-light when other players should get it, like Taylor Twellman and Jay Heaps (Weintraub). David Beckham has had many accomplishments in his life. One of these accomplishments is that he became a professional soccer player. Not only a professional soccer player, but he is very popular as well which is another accomplishment for him. Another of Beckham’s accomplishments is his goal against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park in 1996, a 50-yard strike. That was outstanding! David Beckham’s goal in life was to fulfill his dreams. He has most likely fulfilled most, if not all of, his goals even with OCD ("Beckham Watch").  OCD can really affect a persons life and can be hard to deal with at times, however people, including David Beckham, have learned how to live with and overcome this illness. OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and is actually “a medical brain disorder that causes problems in information processing” (Obsessive Compulsive Foundation). The symptoms of OCD seem extremely difficult to cope with. How can a person even imagine living with that?

Works Cited Anthony. __BeckhamWatch__. 2003-2007. BeckhamWatch.com. 21 May 2009 . __OCF obsessive compulsive foundation__. 2006-2009. OCF. 22 May 2009 . Weintraub, Robert. __Slate__. 12 Jan. 2007. Washington Post. Newsweek Interactive CO. 22 May 2009 .