Nesrin Memed

Analysis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Howard

Hughes from the Film Aviator

The Aviator portrays Howard Hughes's early adult life, when he was a well-known eccentric and
talented billionaire. Hughes was a committed and often successful aeronautics engineer and
filmmaker in Hollywood throughout the 1920s and 1940s. His mother had an obsessional
paranoia of catching an infectious disease. She excessively bathed her baby, repeatedly taught
him to wash his hands, and frequently spelled out words like "quarantine". Howard's future
obsessions and compulsions were formed psychologically and socially by his mother's cognitive
distortions during his formative years.

Diagnosis and Symptom Presentation, the presence of obsessions and/or compulsions is the
first DSM-V criterion for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Howard Hughes had unpleasant
obsessions and compulsions centered on the subject of cleanliness. For example, when talking
about his planes, Howard would say, "She's got to be clean," and emphasize that he must avoid
"crap on people's hands" for the protection of the plane's steering wheel. These obsessions would
be so distressing to Howard that he frequently felt as if he was losing his mind, and he was
paranoid about contamination. Howard acted in compulsions in response to the anxiety-
inducing intrusive obsessions (DSM- 5). For example, he would frequently wash his hands for
up to 50 minutes, to the point that his hands were cut and bled. In addition, he consistently ate ice
cream strictly from a jar due to a fear of contamination from the container, rigidly separated
vegetables from meat on his plate, strictly opened doors with tissues, and displayed a high level
of distress when individuals touched his belongings.

Howard's occupational, social, and personal life were gradually taken over by his obsessions and
compulsions. The obsessive-compulsive cycle became so bad towards the end of the film that
Howard was unable to continue his career as a pilot and airplane designer, eventually ending up
isolated in his room. Hughes' symptoms are stressful and life-consuming, which matches the
second DSM-5 criteria for OCD: obsessions and/or compulsions last at least one hour per
day and cause significant suffering and/or impairments in social, occupational, or
interpersonal spheres of life.
Nesrin Memed

Taking Howard's case, we can conclude that his OCD has a moderate hereditary contribution
from his mother (30 to 50 %) This suggests that other factors are also important in the
development of his OCD.

Given that Mr. Hughes' symptoms have gradually rendered him unable to function in society, I
would immediately appoint him for an intensive outpatient program of exposure and response
prevention (ERP), or certain psychiatric medications can assist reduce OCD obsessions and
compulsions: clomipramine (anafranil).