Various sources confirm an unusual trait about Shan’ann – she had Obsessive Compulsive Discorder [OCD].
When Nickole Atkinson gave an interview to ABC, she was adamant that she knew something was wrong with Shan’ann because it wasn’t like Shan’ann to go somewhere without her car, or phone, or to leave the kids’ beds unmade [let alone her own].
Atkinson told ABC:
“The girls’ beds weren’t made [looks at the ceiling, then to her left]; Shan’ann was very OCD. Everything in her house had a place. Everything was labelled. If something was out of the ordinary, it was very out of the ordinary, for her…”
Shan’ann’s OCD is a big deal. It was a big deal to Nickole, and yet the term OCD appears only six times in the Discovery Documents, a relative rarity given how instrumental this was to Shan’ann’s personality, and identity.
OCD was largely who she was. It made her somewhat controlling, somewhat overbearing, somewhat regimented in how she ran her household, and in terms of scheduling her life and those around her – Shan’ann ran a very tight ship. But how much somewhat are we talking about here, really?
The combination of OCD and MLM is also central to the operative psychology of the Watts case. In September 2018 I dealt with this aspect in a post titled:
What impact did THRIVE have on Shan’ann’s marriage?
Of course it’s one thing to say someone is OCD [or a narcissist], it’s another thing to know what that means – to experience it. Nickole did, and we get a little sense of what she means by looking into Shan’ann’s pantry, and her home. But is it enough?
At the bottom of this post, Shan’ann’s Pinterest profile provides insight into the scale and scope of her OCD. You can see the size of it at a single glance.
But, as I’m often at pains to emphasize in my books, when it comes to personality traits and dynamics, we can’t be told what they are – we have to be shown them, we have to experience them – like the Matrix – for the truth to really resonate.
Before showing you though, the OCD aspect deserves a little tell, too.
Shan’ann’s OCD was likely rooted in anxiety primarily about her health problems. Shan’ann had other anxieties too, but her health issues were fairly significant. The OCD was thus a response – arguably an over-response – to control her environment. That environment included her spouse. Now here’s the rub. OCD can also be rooted in narcissism, and aggravated by narcissism.
The table below from psychcentral.com provides some cursory coverage of the difference between OCD + NPD [NPD = Narcissistic Personality Disorder] and vanilla OCD.
Notice the aspect at the bottom of the table:
No concern or empathy for how their OCD behavior negatively impacts others
When there is vanilla OCD on the other hand:
Constantly feels bad for how their OCD behavior impacts others
Thus far Shan’ann’s narcissism, especially as it relates to her OCD, has been completely missing from the media narrative, or any narrative surrounding this case. The accusations that Chris Watts’s narcissism stands alone, and is central to the murders rings hollow because we haven’t contextualized it: his narcissism compared to whose? Yours? Society’s? What about Shan’ann’s?
If we refer to Shan’ann’s social media, there are countless instances where she describes her husband as someone who does whatever she tells him to do. Shan’ann has no concern for how this makes him feel; it’s simply the way things work in their marriage, and he gets it, because he gets her. That’s great, except we can tell – intuitively – that over time being a pawn on someone’s OCD board game – even within a loving marriage – has to get old at some stage.
https://youtu.be/1M44hQ2Xls8?t=529
Narcissism is a popular catch-term in true crime now, dropped by all the big hitters – Nancy Grace, Dr. Phil, HLN and so on. And the more it is used, the more it gets reused.
Most of the folks using the ‘N’ word don’t really understand how narcissism works, and even less how it relates to true crime. They have a vague sense that’s it’s a particularly ugly form of conceit, and selfishness. And so I guess Chris Watts was a particularly conceited and selfish husband and father to do what he did. Well, except before he committed the crimes no one – especially not Shan’ann- would accuse Watts of being either conceited or selfish, in fact quite the opposite.
No one, naturally, wants to talk about Shan’ann’s narcissism. That would be distasteful, wouldn’t it? Victim blaming. But here at CrimeRocket we’re not trying to win a popularity contest, or trying to use the same catch-terms as the talk show hosts.
We’re here to find out what the fuck happened, and who these people really are, at least, that’s why I’m here. Now when I say this, I say it with the greatest of respect; if you’d rather talk about only certain aspects of a case, and feel uncomfortable talking about other aspects which you feel should be off limits, please fuck off and go be schizophrenic in your selective reality on your own time, somewhere else.
For the rest, let’s answer the question: is OCD related to narcissism, and if so, how so?
According to healthyplace.com:
The narcissist’s very pursuit of Narcissistic Supply is compulsive…[and] in many respects, narcissism can be defined as an all-pervasive obsessive-compulsive disorder.
So we see OCD and Narcissism are related, and that Narcissist Personality Disorder [NPD] actually exacerbates OCD. OCD and NPD aren’t the same thing however [a video at the bottom of this page explains how they differ]. But going back to additional reinforcing aspects from psychcentral.com’s table, we see there are some pretty ugly traits associated with OCD and NPD, especially exploitation, entitlement and arrogance.
How much of this is “evil” in the conventional sense of the word? In some ways, none of it is evil. It’s simply the habitual psychology of control, or the efforts at control, and how that is exerted is by putting the world [and people] into box, with nice neat labels on. The world is also reduced to timetables and schedules, along with everyone in them. So the OCD-Narcisisst may not be aware of the terror they unleash on the world in their efforts to control every conceivable aspect, they’re simply doing their thing trying to organize their shit.
On the other hand, is it okay for one person to exert a fucking tyranny over another? In that sense, it’s not evil, but it suggests there is a flagrant lack of self-awareness. In other words, do I realize that what I do habitually can cause pain to others, or do I simply not care?
Shan’ann’s nut meltdown is a good example demonstrating how difficult it may be to know where to draw the line between tyranny, OCD and common sense.
Which is it?
Shan’ann’s Pinterest profile below shows the extent of her OCD. Not all OCDs are created equal, just as there is a spectrum to narcissism and NPD. But clearly, sometimes OCD is on a vastly different scale to what could be considered “normal”.
The above profile comprises the following categories:
- Meal prep
- House Stuff [92 pins]
- Photography [54 pins]
- Exercise [54 pins]
- Party Ideas [16 pins]
- Tattoo ideas for Me [14 pins]
- Organize it [11 pins]
- Beauty
- Drink Anyone?
- Desserts [304 pins]
- Dinner is served! [273 pins]
- Breakfast
- Salads [47 pins]
- Appetizers and sides [71 pins]
- Sandwiches and burgers
- Food party ideas
- Snack ideas
- Soups and stews
- Dressings
- Pasta salads
- Gluten free desserts
- Workout
- Breads and Biscuits
- Marinades and dressings
- Bella [46 pins]
- Bahaha
- Good to know
- Lunch ideas
- Holiday baking ideas
- Valentines
- Love*
- Crafts
- Newborn pic ideas [12 pins]
- Smoothies
- German dishes [19 pins]
- Polish food [9 pins]
- Chicken dishes
- Ground Turkey Dishes
- Basement ideas [8 pins]
- Crockpot kinda Day
- Pork Dishes
- Bella’s 1st Birthday [70 pins]
- Kids activities [4 pins]
- Seafood dishes
- Kids playroom [23 pins]
- Mothers/Fathers Day [3 pins]
- Fathers Day [8 pins]
- Baby boy room ideas [46 pins]
- Man cave [2 pins]
- Pregnancy
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving
- Freezing food
- Italian food
- Thirty-One [82 pins]
- Outdoor patio
- Origami owl
- Dips [13 pins]
- Christmas
- Halloween Costumes
- Crafts with Kiddos
- Sensory Play [75 pins]
- Activities for 0-18 mo
- Gross motor skills play
- New Years party
- Super Bowl Party [20 pins]
- Girl room ideas [42 pins]
- Baby number 2
- Baby play
- Mexican food
- Motor skills play
- Girls Bathroom [12 pins]
- Easter
- Fine motor skills play
- Baby shower Girl [12 pins]
- Greek food
- Crafts to make with girls
- Healthy snack for kids
- Back exercises
- Keepsake ideas for kids
- Kids snacks
- Poppop to build
- Fondue
- 4th of July
- Bella’s 2nd Birthday
- Guest Room
- Dream closet GIRLS!
- Bathroom organizing
- Beef dishes
- Kids Keepsakes
- Reading nook
- 2 year old play
- Kids Science
- FMF
- Nails [59 pins]
- Fall
- Football
- Punta Cana
- Thrive Experience [0 pins]
- Instant Pot [25 pins]
- Organization Remodel Expert
- Wedding [220 pins]
*In the Love category, Shan’ann highlights various ways couples can express their love to one another, including 10 Ways to Strengthen Your Marriage, a Couple’s Appreciation Journal and 58 Creative Ways to Cheer Up a Love One. The category also includes The best days of our lives – plates with all the significant dates in a marriage. For Mother’s Day, that’s exactly what Chris Watts gave her.
Many have criticized Chris Watts for Googling when and how to say I love you. Such criticism is fine, as long as you compare it to the other side of the equation: Shan’ann and yourself.
Further reading: OCD and the Death of the Christian
Recent Comments