As good as it gets

I find it quite hard to write about scientific and medical advancements that are occurring in the news at the moment, purely for the fact that I feel such advancements are already highly documented on other websites, newspapers etc and so I feel that in order to maintain a degree of individuality and uniqueness to this blog, posting about such advancements can be hard and can become slightly boring.

Of course, I will continue to do so with particular advancements that have resonated with me hugely, but I have decided that to create a blog that is more relatable I will post about books, TV documentaries, and even movies that are related to medicine. I feel as an aspiring medical student these are the posts I would love to read, as to me they are not as common upon the internet. I always love reading reviews and discovering new ways to expand my knowledge related to medicine that is not typically 'within the classroom'. This idea has also come to me due to the fact that my post of my review and thoughts on The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat is to date my most popular post, and so it would seem this type of post is most interesting and helpful to others.

Recently I watched As Good as it Gets, and whilst it is predominately a 'romcom' what struck me in particular was the way that the main character had a severe case of OCD.
Played by Jack Nicholson, who in my opinion is one of the greatest actors to grace the planet, and ironically always seems to play a character who has some form of mental illness, Melvin Udall, a writer, suffers from clear OCD and has an extremely pessimistic, cynical outlook on the world. I will not ruin the story for you, but all I will say is that it is in no way a typical 'romcom', but it is hilarious nevertheless, my personal favourite scene being when Melvin turns his neighbours dog into an also OCD sufferer.

The movie opened my eyes to the severity of OCD, as it is a term that I find is often used loosely by many in modern life. For example, I am often called OCD, because I like to be organised, and have a certain chair that I like to sit in when I eat. The movie showed me the reality of OCD, and I felt handled the illness in an extremely effective way, making it slightly comic, but not offensive, or silly.

In short the movie itself is not centred around Melvin's case of OCD, it appears as a sideline, a by product to add more to his character. You could say that because of this it is loosely related to medicine, and I think it is a perfect movie to start off with.
It is a definite must watch for anyone.
Best quote of the movie: "Sell crazy someplace else. We're all stocked up here."