The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder- Essay, Research Paper
The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder-
John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil magnate who, by the time
of his death in 1937, was probably worth close to a billion dollars,
is perhaps one of the best historical examples of an
obsessive-compulsive. An obsessive-compulsive is one who is driven to
an act or acts, generally being asocial, by his own fixations but by
nature of his peculiar psyche must balance these actions with others
more socially acceptable. There are abundant examples of Rockefeller’s
deeds fitting these clinical characteristics, and John D. Rockefeller
is today generally regarded as an obsessive-compulsive. The roots of
this disorder are traceable back to his childhood. While much of
Rockefeller’s business history remains a mystery today, it is apparent
that much of his success is attributable to his obsessive-compulsive
disorder.
Franz Alexander and Louis B. Shapiro’s description of the
obsessive-compulsive disorder from their book “Neuroses, Behavior
Disorders, and Perversions” is a frequently used summary of the
commonly agreed-upon characteristics. It states: “Full blown cases of
obsessive-compulsive states present a dynamic equilibrium in which
obsessive preoccupation with ego-alien fantasies… are precariously
balanced by rituals representing an exaggeration of social standards,
such as cleanliness, punctuality, consideration for others. The
dynamic formula is similar to bookkeeping in which on the one side of
ledger are the asocial tendencies which the patient tries to balance
precisely on the other side with moralistic and social attitudes…
Every asocial move must be undone by an opposing one…” The term
“ego-alien” refers to thoughts, emotions or material which are
consciously detestable to the patient (though not he may not
necessarily be conscious of the reason). This summary is important,
and we will return to it later.
Rockefeller was born in 1839 and raised in a troubled, then
broken, home. His father, who sold quack “quick-heal” ailment
medicines, was often away for months at a time. Rockefeller was raised
essentially by his mother. Eventually his father consummated a
bigamous marriage with a teenage Canadian and left Rockefeller and his
mother and siblings.
At an early age, it became apparent that young John was not
quite like the other children. For instance, he adamantly refused to
play with other children unless he could choose the game. In almost
every description of him as a child, he is often described as
“thinking”. He married Laura Celestia Spelman, a girl who was
strikingly similar to his mother, which is never a good sign; and
when he decided to go into business, he borrowed $1000 from his
father- at ten percent interest. Ten percent was well above the going
rate; Rockefeller’s father essentially loansharked his son.
Rockefeller was apparently disturbed by his childhood; he absorbed his
cutthroat business techniques from his shyster father, and at some
point other influences at a young age probably began to develop his
obsessive-compulsive disorder. Unfortunately, few intimate accounts of
his early life and family exist, so it is difficult to pinpoint these
influences.
Rockefeller seemed to make his fortune with hardly any effort;
a brief outline is appropriate. After dropping out of high school and
serving a clerical apprenticeship, Rockefeller went into business,
forming a produce house with one partner and $4,000 of capital between
them. In its first year its gross income was $450,000, with a net
income of $4,400- better than one hundred percent return. After
flourishing through the Civil War boom, Rockefeller’s company bought
its first refinery. Rockefeller soon gave up his original partnership
to concentrate on the oil business. In 1870, with a capital of better
than one million dollars, Rockefeller reformed his company as the
Standard Oil Company of Ohio. Buying the means to control production
from the smallest detail (he even built his own barrels to save money)
Rockefeller soon managed to dominate the nationwide oil market.
In 1879 Standard Oil controlled 95 percent of oil production in the
United States.
Like all successful businesses of the time, Rockefeller’s
company did a fair amount of illegal dealing; and while Standard Oil
was perhaps not quite as crooked as its competitors, it is in this
fact that we see the first facet of Rockefeller as an
obsessive-compulsive. While Rockefeller encouraged illegal railroad
rebates and even invented a few new ones (such as the “drawback”, a
variation on the kickback) he was an adamant churchgoer. He strongly
disapproved of: smoking, drinking, card playing, dancing, merriment,
“wenching”, theatre going, concert going, banqueting, idling,
socializing in general and “good fellowship”. He took no vacations, no
time off. He did nothing in his small amount of free time except go to
church two or three times a week. These are the “rituals representing
an exaggeration of social standards” mentioned by Drs. Alexander and
Shapiro. Rockefeller, who as an obsessive-compulsive had to balance
his asocial acts (the seamy and/or illegal acts of Standard Oil) by
social acts, in this case presenting (to himself as well as others) a
facade of deep morality.
In the anti-corporation hue and cry of the late 1800’s and
early twentieth century, Rockefeller was assaulted by the courts in an
attempt to reduce his virtual monopoly. In 1892 he was ordered to
dissolve his trust, one of his inventions which allowed him control
over a number of subsidiary companies. He simply placed relatives and
friends at the helms of the newly-freed subsidiaries. In 1906 Standard
Oil’s railroad rebate schemes were discovered and the company was
fined $29.2 million. The judge, luckily for Rockefeller, had made an
incompetent decision (his fine was too high by at least an order of
magnitude) and the decision was reversed in a higher court. Standard
Oil paid nothing. In the year following the 1892 decision, Rockefeller
donated over $1.5 million to charities. While he had been donating
money since his teenage years, this amount was three times as large as
any sum he had ever donated in one year. In 1907, after the second
major court case, he donated over $39 million. This was also the
largest amount he had ever donated, by a large margin. We can say with
some assurance that these hefty donations were a result of
Rockefeller’s obsessive-compulsive disorder; he was simply balancing
the guilt he felt from his business practices with philanthropy.
To what extent was Rockefeller’s obsessive-compulsive disorder
responsible for his phenomenal success? Rockefeller was unquestionably
a financial genius, obsessive-compulsive or no. However, clearly
Rockefeller’s disturbance was responsible for his illegal activities
that continued into the 1900’s, after he had made more money than he
could possibly use, and when he donated a large percentage of his
personal income to various charities. Rockefeller’s tactics put left
tens of thousands of workers (at least one estimate is even over one
hundred thousand) after the turn of the century after he had
accumulated a staggering amount of wealth. It would probably be safe
to say, at the very least, that any fortune generated by illegal
activities after the mid 1890’s was the result of his
obsessive-compulsive complex; perhaps his obsession for money spurred
him on from his very first business venture through the last days of
Standard Oil. Too few records exist of Standard Oil and Rockefeller
for us to be sure at what point Rockefeller’s obsessive-compulsive
disorder became the dominant force.
John D. Rockefeller is, by all historical accounts, a
clear-cut case of an obsessive-compulsive, one who commits asocial
acts and feels a need to balance these actions with more socially
becoming conduct. The origins of Rockefeller’s disorder appear to
have occurred in his childhood; the obsessive-compulsive syndrome that
resulted was probably responsible for most of his financial ambition
and subsequent success.