In the movie "As good as it gets," it was very stressful for Melvin as his life is interrupted. He has an Obsessive-Compulsive complex that makes it very difficult for him to accept and deal with change.

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Miller

Dale Miller

Psychology 101

Paper #3

Dr. Ed Dana

5/2/07


        In the movie “As good as it gets,” it was very stressful for Melvin as his life is interrupted.  He has an Obsessive-Compulsive complex that makes it very difficult for him to accept and deal with change.  Throughout the movie, he is forced to change little by little so that in the end he has learned how to cope with his ailment and control his actions.  

Using the appraisal process, Melvin saw anything different to him and his normal actions as a threat to his well-being.  An example might be his annoying neighbor who was gay and would not leave him alone or the dirt on his hands after handing the dog.  Threatening they may be, but harmful is what gave him the odd and ‘crazy’ actions.  Locking the locks 3 times and flicking the lights 5 does gives no benefit but he does it to calm himself and to reassure himself that these items work and will work when he needs them to.  He eliminated the harm, not that those items not could cause him, but the harm that might be caused if those items failed.  He was protecting himself from harm but always conscientious of the harm that surrounded him.  Melvin’s life was so challenging that it was extremely difficult for him to proceed every day.  Leaving the house meant having to deal with the unpredictable.  Other people just happened to be one of his worst enemies.  He had no control over what they did and how they did it.  The one-day Carroll missed work he couldn’t get anything right.  He couldn’t eat breakfast; he couldn’t even stay in the restaurant.  Her missing work threw his whole day off schedule.  His life was a challenge so obviously it was stressful.  Imminent is one of the least problems he had.  Life is imminent and his life was his OCD.  He couldn’t escape the reality that he perceived.  He couldn’t just stop what he was doing because it was normal for him to act on his compulsions.  The stressful life style he lived was his choice but he could not escape with out changing.  

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        Melvin swayed between emotion and problems focused coping styles.  When he had his outbursts in the restaurant, it was emotional coping; but when he was able to find a way to form an attachment to Verdell, the dog, he mainly used his problem-focused coping style.  With Verdell, he didn’t know how to act around another person, yet alone a dog.  Melvin had to respect Verdell and pay attention to Verdell’s needs.  When it came to feeding, Melvin found Verdell liked bacon.  Melvin decided to being ordering bacon at the restaurant to bring home to Verdell because then he could get ...

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