The phrase "obsessive-compulsive" has worked its way into the wider English lexicon, and is often used in an offhand manner to describe someone who is meticulous or absorbed in a cause.
People who suffer from the separate and unrelated condition obsessive compulsive personality disorder are not aware of anything abnormal with them; they will readily explain why their actions are rational, and it is usually impossible to convince them otherwise.
Although obsessive-compulsive disorder commonly occurs in many patients with Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome, little is known about the obsessions and compulsions of Tourette's syndrome and whether they differ from those seen in pure obsessive-compulsive disorder.
It is for this reason there is some overlap between this category and our Famous People with Tourettes Syndrome list.
The tic disorder Tourette's Syndrome (T S) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are genetic and/or autoimmune neurological syndromes1,2,3 which are comorbid (In medicine, comorbidity describes the effect of all other diseases an individual patient might have other than the primary disease of interest) in 40-75% of patients initially diagnosed with either disorder, with comorbidity (In medicine, comorbidity describes the effect of all other diseases an individual patient might have other than the primary disease of interest) likeliest to occur in their childhood-onset forms.
Michael Wolff was born on 19 September, 1954 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Michael is an American jazz pianist, composer, and actor. Wolff is the leader of a jazz band, Michael Wolff and Impure Thoughts, which features Indian tabla player Badal Roy, drummer Mike Clark and electric bassist John B. Williams. Wolff has Tourette syndrome he serves on the Board of Directors of the Tourette Syndrome Association (TSA), and is involved with mentoring children with Tourette's through the chapters of the TSA.
James Michael Eisenreich was born on 18 April, 1959 in St. Cloud, Minnesota. James Eisenreich is a former major league baseball player utility player with a 15-year career. He played for the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals of the American League, and the Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League. Eisenreich has Tourette syndrome (TS) his condition caused him to go on to the voluntary retirement list between 1984 and 1987 while he was undergoing treatment. Eisenreich resides in the Kansas City area with his wife Leann and four children. They run the Jim Eisenreich Foundation for Children with Tourette Syndrome which they founded in 1996. It helps children with TS to achieve personal success.
Dr. Samuel Johnson LL.D. MA born on 18 September, 1709 and died on 13 December, 1784. Often referred to simply as Dr Johnson, is one of England's best known literary figures, an essayist, biographer, lexicographer and a critic of English Literature. He was also a great wit and prose stylist, well known for his aphorisms. Johnson had poor eyesight, was hard of hearing and had a scarred face as a result of childhood scrofula. He also had a number of tics and other involuntary movements, the symptoms described by Boswell suggest that Johnson had Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756 and died in 1791. In late 1992, the British Medical Journal published an article by endocrinologist Benjamin Simkin, M.D. speculating that Mozart had Tourette Syndrome. Apparently he wrote several letters to his cousin Maria that contained many obscene words, especially words having to do with bodily functions. It has also been documented that he was hyperactive, suffered from mood swings, had tics, and loved made-up words. Despite these behaviors, we will probably never know for certain whether Mozart had TS.
Dan Aykroyd was born on Dominion Day at the Ottawa General Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Dan was diagnosed with tourette's and asperger syndromes at an early age, but the symptoms seem to have disappeared when he was around 14. The diagnosis of Asperger syndrome did not exist in the 1960s, when Aykroyd was a preteen. It involved mostly grunting and physical tics through nervousness.
Marc Summers was a popular tv host and entertainer, he had an obsessive-compulsive disorder and would do everything a certain way, anything else wouldn't work. When he would take a shower at a hotel he would wear flip-flops to avoid touching the floor, he would not remove them until inside the shower. Marc would have a great fear of losing, he wanted to win whatever happened regardless of who he was playing with. When it was time to play basket-ball or monopoly he would not accept losing, even to his children.
Howard Hughes being one of the richest man in history Howard Hughes had always been lost in dreams, most of them being born from movies or figments of imagination. He seemed to dislike or even fear all that was too real, although his career in aviation would prove otherwise. He was but a mystery, when all the fame was directed towards him he would hide in the darkest of places, for he would not like other people. As he got older everything seemed like an enemy to him, he would not touch anything without gloves or tissue to protect his hands from what he saw as bacteria and disease. Then he would contradict his excess of sanity by barely eating and taking too much medecine. He was one of the richest man yet he was ill, and suffered from tourettes.
Tim Howard once known as Tim Dawg, Howard managed to become the goal keeper for Manchester United of England despite his tourettes Syndrome. It was an everyday battle but he kept it under control, especially when he was to be catching and blocking 65 miles an hour curve soccer balls from the best players in the world. Tim says it's just a battle of the will, he just constantly fights what his mind tells his body to do, he has been capable of shutting out tourettes.