The Aviator depicts an eccentric man who enjoys designing and flying planes, directing films, and spending insane amounts of money on both of those things. Howard Hughes isn’t afraid of taking financial risks, but he is afraid of germs. Throughout the film, Hughes struggles with symptoms of OCD that range from mildly quirky to extremely impairing, sometimes derailing his entire life. Howard Hughes shows many signs of OCD throughout this movie, specifically of the contamination subtype. Some of his symptoms were more subtle, such as refusing to eat his food after Errol Flynn steals one of his twelve peas off his plate. Other “quirks” include only drinking milk that has the cap still on, wrapping his steering wheel in cellophane, and refusing …show more content…
At one point, Hughes locks himself in his screening room for days, repeating and counting phrases like “come in with the milk” and writhing on the floor. His obsession with avoiding germs causes him to act on compulsions like washing his hands, counting, spelling, or repeating phrases. These consume much of his time, the paranoia completely taking over his life in some instances. The Aviator depicts Hughes’s distress clearly through furrowing his brows for many interactions or covering his mouth to try to stop his compulsive repetition of phrases. To confirm his symptoms represent OCD, we would need to know if another mental disorder, medical condition, or …show more content…
If Hughes was seeking treatment today, I would highly recommend Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD. This treatment would allow Hughes to confront his obsessions and fears in a safe way, slowly reducing his urge to perform compulsions. Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD is highly effective and empirically supported, so I believe it would help reduce Hughes’s symptoms. I would also recommend CBT for OCD, specifically for Hughes’s paranoia because it would allow him to recognize the invalidity of his