The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing

In The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing: The Experience and Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Judith Rapoport shines light on that puzzling disorder. People with OCD feel compelled to wash themselves for hours each day, go back repeatedly to check whether they accidentally hit someone with their car, and engage in other bizarre behavior that totally disrupts their lives.

The book includes self-descriptions by patients and accounts of parents whose children have OCD. A majority of the book consists of case studies of various OCD sufferers. As Rapoport explains, certain new drugs can lessen or alleviate OCD for many, but not all, patients. Behavioral therapy can sometimes help, but other psychological approaches have had no luck in addressing the disorder.

Though millions of Americans have OCD, most are secretive about it, and until recently the psychological community knew little about it. In fact, until a few decades ago the Catholic Church, concerned with the obsessive religious behavior called scrupulosity, had a better understanding than the psychologists. Rapoport speculates about its causes, noting that many animals have patterns of grooming and searching for danger, which resemble the cleaning and checking patterns of OCD.

The case studies and observations held my attention and avoided the psychobabble of some psychology books. Though none of my acquaintances, as far I know, have OCD, reading about the mental disorder raises questions about human nature. How much control do we have over our actions and desires?