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Oct 12, 2023 · Howie Mandel opens up about his OCD diagnosis and life with treatment to TODAY.com. He was diagnosed with OCD in his 40s and his wife, Terry, has helped him.
- Chrissy Callahan
- Overview
- Howie Mandel’s OCD went undiagnosed for decades
- Why is OCD so stigmatized?
- ERP therapy for OCD: How does it work?
- Takeaway
•Comedian Howie Mandel is one of an estimated 1.2% of U.S. adults who live with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
•Mandel lived with OCD for decades before getting a diagnosis.
•He shares his journey with OCD in hopes of helping others find help.
Acclaimed comedian and actor Howie Mandel was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in his 40s after his wife pushed him to get help.
Intrusive thoughts and compulsions have always been present in Mandel’s life, but as a child, the “America’s Got Talent” judge said he didn’t know how to label them.
“I wouldn’t learn to tie my shoes because I didn’t want to touch the laces cause they had touched the ground, so everybody bullied me and I didn’t have a friend in school because I just would rather them think I can’t tie my laces,” he told Healthline.
OCD is defined by uncontrollable and recurring thoughts or obsessions and repetitive behaviors (compulsions).
Mandel’s obsessions negatively affected his wife and kids to the point where he made them engage in cleanliness activities, such as:
•washing their hands repeatedly
•putting on gloves
•avoiding touching their phones
•disinfecting everything in the house
While an OCD diagnosis gave Mandel some relief and hope that there were treatments and methods to manage his condition, he said initially he felt embarrassed and ashamed.
“I didn’t want to tell anybody that I had a mental health problem. I thought that was a sign of weakness. It was embarrassing, so as I sit here and talk to you today this is 180 degrees from where I was in my 40s,” he said.
Much of his initial hesitation to be open about OCD is due to stigma around mental health conditions, particularly OCD.
While Simpson said the stigma is far less in younger generations than in older generations, she believes it still exists.
“What I notice today is that people sometimes still discuss mental health conditions, such as OCD, in a joking manner,” said Simpson. “Just like you would go to a doctor for any physical health condition, it is critical to seek medical attention for any mental health concerns and to treat these conditions with seriousness.”
Society has moved forward in reducing stigma, but Mandel said it still remains, including in the medical field.
Mandel teamed up with the virtual platform NOCD to help connect people living with OCD with resources.
One aspect of the platform is that it provides mental health professionals trained in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy.
ERP therapy promotes exposing oneself to the thoughts, images, objects, and situations that make them anxious and then learning to avoid engaging in compulsive behavior related to those.
Patrick McGrath, PhD, chief clinical officer of NOCD, said that, in his opinion, ERP is the treatment of choice for OCD because it does not try to treat the obsessions.
“We all have thoughts that we consider intrusive or unwanted, but we do not all have OCD,” he told Healthline. “It is the occurrence of the compulsions that ERP targets. It is the compulsions that are the source of the problem, and therefore must be the target of the therapy.”
He noted that people with OCD do not want to have the intrusive thoughts, images, and urges that make up their obsessions and that telling them to stop thinking them doesn’t help.
Comedian Howie Mandel is one of an estimated 1.2% of U.S. adults who live with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Mandel lived with OCD for decades before getting a diagnosis.
- Cathy Cassata
Oct 14, 2021 · What happened to Howie Mandel? Mandel was at a Starbucks in Los Angeles when he fainted and fell over. A photo obtained by TMZ showed him sitting on a bench surrounded by paramedics.
Jul 26, 2022 · America's Got Talent star Howie Mandel received some heartbreaking news following the reveal of his mystery illness that forced him to miss AGT auditions.
- 12 sec
- Jenni McKnight
Oct 14, 2021 · The former “Deal or No Deal” host has been open in the past about his diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety. Howie...
- 4 min
- Lisa Respers France
May 17, 2023 · May 17, 2023. Howie Mandel of America's Got Talent doesn't just have talent. He also has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a mental illness that has colored and impacted every aspect of...
Oct 13, 2021 · America’s Got Talent judge Howie Mandel was rushed to the hospitalized after a medical incident occurred outside a neighborhood Starbucks, TMZ reported.
