The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing The Experience and Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

by Rapoport, Judith L.

• ISBN13: 9780452263659
• ISBN10: 0452263654
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1990-01-30
• Publisher: Plume

Summary

All of these people are suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), an emotionally crippling disease that afflicts up to six million Americans. Sufferers are powerless to stop petty thoughts and pointless rituals - cleaning, counting, avoiding, checking - which they repeat over and over until they feel they have "gotten it right." In this landmark study, a distinguished psychiatrist and expert on OCD recounts the extraordinary experiences of dozens of her patients, many of whom speak in their own words, and explores the successes of new and existing treatments. The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing offers new hope for OCD patients and their families. This important book is for everybody who is fascinated by the workings of the human mind. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Dr. Judith L. Rapoport is Chief of the child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Mediacl School, she has been the recipient of the Outstanding Service Award from the U.S. Public Health Service and the Ittleson Prize in Child Psychiatry from the American Psychiatric Association. She lives with her family in Washington D.C.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(20)
PART I THE PATIENTS SPEAK: PARENTS
The Auto Accident that Never Was	21	(22)
Rituals and Contaminations: Zach and His Family	43	(24)
PART II THE PATIENTS SPEAK: CHILDREN
Paul: Stuck in the Doorway	67	(5)
Arnie: The Paper Route	72	(3)
Morris: Mr. Clean	75	(7)
PART III A DOCTOR'S PERSPECTIVE
The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing	82	(5)
The Doubting Disease	87	(2)
Is Ocd a Brain Disease?	89	(8)
Unlearning to Understand	97	(5)
Anafranil: A Wonder Drug?	102	(3)
David's Drug Odyssey	105	(3)
How Sweet It Is!	108	(2)
The Hidden	110	(5)
No Joke	115	(4)
The Music Goes 'Round and 'Round	119	(5)
My Mind on My Mind	124	(5)
Over and Over Again	129	(3)
The Secret Life of a Street Person	132	(5)
Count Me Out	137	(5)
Love Story	142	(4)
Aids: The New Obsession	146	(3)
The Hair-Pulling Women	149	(5)
Innocent Sinners	154	(5)
A Thousand Commitments to God	159	(18)
PART IV ON THE BOUNDARIES
The Obsessionality of Everyday Life	177	(8)
Knock Wood	185	(2)
Grooming and Nesting	187	(13)
I Can't Get You Out of My Mind	200	(7)
Free Will and the Uncertainity of Knowing	207	(16)
PART V DO YOU HAVE OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER?
Making the Diagnosis	223	(5)
What to Do If You Have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder	228	(7)
Epilogue	235	(2)
Appendix: The Religious Perspective	237	(10)
References and Suggested Reading	247	(4)
Index	251