Mental Health Notes

Of Disloyal House Elves And Guilt-Stricken Humans

by Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader on April 4th, 2008

In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, house elves “are small humanoid creatures who inhabit large houses belonging to wealthy Wizarding families” (HP Lexicon). House elves are the servants of these Wizarding families and are, for the most part, very loyal to their Wizarding families.

Some house elves even punish themselves when they feel they’ve been disloyal to their Wizarding families, or to anyone who’s been nice to them (such is the case with the Malfoy’s house elf, Dobby, who once banged his head against Harry Potter’s bedroom window in order to punish himself for thinking ill of the Malfoys, and who also ironed his own hands to punish himself for blocking Harry Potter’s access to Platform Nine and Three Quarters).

No, house elves may not be the best behaved magical creatures in Rowling’s world, but those who are guilt-stricken by each and every “bad” move they make are definitely invested in punishing themselves.

Much like many of us humans.

When I read When People Can’t Stop Praying, an ABC News Medical Unit article about one man’s struggle with scrupulosity, I…well, quite honestly, I couldn’t make too much sense of it. The article title suggested an obsession with praying, but the article itself dealt with people’s obsessions with “bad,” usually religion-related things (bacon, suggestive dance moves, littering, and the number combination 666), the various ways in which these people try to purge or prevent these “bad” things, and treatment options that can help them overcome these obsessions.

While praying is definitely one way people may try to purge thoughts of bad behavior, or prevent such bad behavior from occurring, the contents of this article did nothing to suggest that scrupulosity was simply an obsession with praying. (Of course, I don’t think it was necessarily supposed to. It was just a catchy title the writer used in hopes of luring in readers. It worked.) Rather, the article suggested behaviors such as praying are actually the compulsions that come along with the obsessions with, say, the 666 number combination.

In other words, scrupulosity is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

I wanted to learn more about scrupulosity, and a quick google presented:

• Wikipedia’s entry for scrupulosity.
• HealthPlace.com’s Scrupulosity: Religious Obsessions and Compulsions
• CatholicCulture.org’s Scrupulosity And How To Overcome It
• Anxiety Disorders Association of America’s Scrupulosity: Blackmailed by OCD in the name of God

The last article’s title is pretty intriguing, huh?

In each of these articles - including the initial ABC News Medical Unit article I read - I found a common theme: a nagging conscience and overpowering guilty feelings. Maybe the person is feeling guilty over “bad” thoughts s/he had, or maybe the person is feeling guilty over “bad” things s/he did.

In any event, praying and other religious/spiritual-related rituals act as a way to:

• Prevent “bad” thoughts from becoming realities and/or prevent “bad” thoughts or actions from happening again.
• Punish oneself for these “bad” thoughts and actions and/or a way to “make right” the “bad” thoughts the person has had or actions the person has committed.

Thus came my loose comparison between house elves and humans who have scrupulosity.

I’m pretty sure I don’t know anyone with scrupulosity, and I’m also fairly certain I’ve never even heard of the condition until today. Do you know anyone with scrupulosity, or do you have scrupulosity? Share your experiences with me in the comments - you can do so anonymously. I’d love to hear more about it.

The above image is owned by stuttermonkey and is being used according to these Creative Commons attributions.

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POSTED IN: Anxiety Disorders, Current Affairs & News, Fear, Guilt, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Resources, Sites of Interest