The Man Who Couldn’t Stop

by David Adam

  ‘more severe than diabetes’, L. Koran et al., ‘Quality of Life for Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 153 (6) (1996), pp. 783−8.

  ‘wait a decade’, M. Demet et al., ‘Risk Factors for Delaying Treatment Seeking in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’, Comprehensive Psychiatry, 51 (2010), pp. 480−85.

  ‘men and women’, C. Lochner and D. Stein, ‘Gender in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders’, Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 4 (2001), pp. 19−26.

  ‘It begins usually’, C. Carmin et al., ‘OCD and Spectrum Conditions in Older Adults’, in G. Steketee, Oxford Handbook of Obsessive Compulsive and Spectrum Disorders (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 455.

  ‘unemployed’, A. Torres et al., ‘Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Prevalence, Comorbidity, Impact and Help-Seeking in the British National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey of 2000’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 163 (11) (2006), pp. 1978−85.

  ‘unmarried’, L. Koran, ‘Quality of Life in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’, Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 23 (2000), pp. 509−17.

  ‘live with their parents’, G. Steketee and N. Pruyn, ‘Families of Individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’, in R. Swinson et al., Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Theory, Research and Treatment (Guildford Press, 1998), pp. 120−40.

  ‘divorce’, A. Torres et al., ‘Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Prevalence, Comorbidity, Impact and Help-Seeking in the British National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey of 2000’, American Journal of Psychiatry 163 (11) (2006), pp. 1978−85.

  ‘fail to recognize’, K. Wahl et al., ‘Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Is Still an Unrecognised Disorder: A Study on the Recognition of OCD in Psychiatric Outpatients’, European Psychiatry, 25 (2010), pp. 374−7.

  ‘two-thirds of sufferers never see’, J. Calamari et al., ‘Phenomenology and Epidemiology of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’, in G. Steketee, The Oxford Handbook of Obsessive Compulsive and Spectrum Disorders (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 36.

  ‘Kurt Gödel’, H. Szechtman and E. Woody, ‘Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a Disturbance of Security Motivation’, Psychological Review, 111 (2004), pp. 111−27.

  TWO: Bad thoughts

  ‘survey after survey’, P. Salkovskis and J. Harrison, ‘Abnormal and Normal Obsessions: A Replication’, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 22 (1984), pp. 549–52.

  ‘off the road’, C. Purdon and D. Clark, ‘Obsessive Intrusive Thoughts in Nonclinical Subjects: Part 1. Content and Relation with Depressive, Anxious and Obsessional Symptoms’, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31 (1993), pp. 713−20.

  ‘high-place phenomenon’, J. Hames et al., ‘An Urge to Jump Affirms the Urge to Live: An Empirical Examination of the High Place Phenomenon’, Journal of Affective Disorders, 136 (2012), pp. 1114–20.

  ‘Stanley Rachman’, S. Rachman and P. de Silva, ‘Abnormal and Normal Obsessions’, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 16 (1978), pp. 233−48.

  ‘Winston Churchill’, I. Osborn, Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals (DTP, 1999), pp. 56−7.

  ‘idea generator’, D. Clark and S. Rhyno, ‘Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts in Nonclinical Individuals’, in D. Clark, Intrusive Thoughts in Clinical Disorders (Guildford Press, 2005), pp. 18−19.

  ‘Mozart … Beethoven’, S. Rachman and R. Hodgson, Obsessions and Compulsions (Prentice Hall, 1980), pp. 10−11.

  ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger’, N. Berman et al., ‘The “Arnold Schwarzenegger Effect”: Is Strength of the “Victim” Related to Misinterpretations of Harm Intrusions?’, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50 (2012), pp. 761−6.

  ‘under stress’, L. Parkinson and S. Rachman, ‘Part III – Intrusive Thoughts: The Effects of an Uncontrived Stress’, Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 3 (3) (1981), pp. 111−18.

  ‘Tolstoy’, R. Bartlett, Tolstoy: A Russian Life (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), p. 53.

  ‘Playboy’, D. Wegner and D. Schneider, ‘The White Bear Story’, Psychological Inquiry, 14 (2003), pp. 326−9.

  ‘Worst Thing’, D. Wegner, ‘How to Think, Say, or Do Precisely the Worst Thing for Any Occasion’, Science, 325 (3 July 2009), pp. 48−50.

  ‘Tolstoy trial’, D. Wegner et al., ‘Paradoxical Effects of Thought Suppression’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53 (1987), pp. 5−13.

  ‘quit cigarettes’, B. Toll et al., ‘The Relationship Between Thought Suppression and Smoking Cessation’, Addictive Behaviors, 26 (2001), pp. 509−15.

  ‘obese’, B. Soetens and C. Braet, ‘The Weight of a Thought: Food-Related Thought Suppression in Obese and Normal-Weight Youngsters’, Appetite, 46 (2006), pp. 309−17.

  ‘resurface in a dream’, R. Bryant et al., ‘Dream Rebound of Suppressed Emotional Thoughts: The Influence of Cognitive Load’, Consciousness and Cognition, 20 (2011), pp. 515−22.

  ‘mental processes’, D. Wegner, ‘Ironic Processes of Mental Control’, Psychological Review, 101 (1) (1994), pp. 34–52.

  ‘Wasmeier’, J. Beckmann, interview with author (11 January 2012).

  ‘odd and meaningless rituals’, P. Muris et al., ‘Abnormal and Normal Compulsions’, Behavioural Research and Therapy, 35 (3) (1997), pp. 249−52.

  ‘worms’, M. Nguyen et al., ‘A Case of Severe Adolescent Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Treated with Inpatient Hospitalisation, Risperidone and Sertraline’, Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 1 (2) (2012), pp. 78−82.

  ‘Eddie’, W. Marshall and C. Langton, ‘Unwanted Thoughts and Fantasies Experienced by Sexual Offenders’, in D. Clark (ed.), Intrusive Thoughts in Clinical Disorders (Guildford Press, 2005), pp. 206−7.

  ‘Mike … Jennifer’, G. Doron et al., ‘Flaws and All: Exploring Partner-Focused Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms’, Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 1 (2012), pp. 234−43.

  ‘Israel … Jack’, G. Doron et al., ‘Tainted Love: Exploring Relationship-Centred Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms in Two Non-clinical Cohorts’, Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 1 (2012), pp. 16−24.

  ‘Nanaimo Correctional Centre’, M. O’Neill et al., ‘Intrusive Thoughts and Psychopathy in a Student and Incarcerated Sample’, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 40 (2009), pp. 147−57.

  THREE: The mademoiselle and the Rat Man

  ‘Aids-phobia’, M. Jenike and C. Pato, ‘Disabling Fear of AIDS Responsive to Imipramine’, Psychosomatics, 27 (1986), pp. 143−4.

  ‘Munich’, Proceedings published as H. Jäger, Aids Phobia: Disease Patterns and Possibilities of Treatment (Ellis Horwood, 1988).

  ‘syphilis-phobia’, F. Cormia, ‘Syphilophobia and Allied Anxiety States’, The Canadian Medical Association Journal (October, 1938), pp. 361−6.

  ‘asbestos’, P. de Silva, ‘Culture and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’, Clinical Conditions (2006), pp. 402−4.

  ‘it was HIV’, J. Rapoport, The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing (Penguin, 1991), pp. 161−4.

  ‘climate change’, M. Jones et al., ‘The Impact of Climate Change on Obsessive Compulsive Checking Concerns’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 46 (3) (2012), pp. 265−70.

  ‘Andy Warhol’, B. Dillon, Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives (Penguin, 2010), pp. 255−261.

  ‘Warrington’, D. Walton and M. Mather, ‘The Application of Learning Principles to the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive States in the Acute and Chronic Phases of Illness’, Behaviour Research and Therapy, August (1963), pp. 163−74.

  ‘coffins’, J. Bondeson, Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear (W. W. Norton, 2002), p. 118.

  ‘Washington … Chopin’, L. Dossey, ‘The Undead: Botched Burials, Safety Coffins and the Fear of the Grave’, Explorations, July/August 2007, pp. 347−54.

  ‘Nobel’, www.nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/will/will-full.html.

  ‘mad disease’, S. Freud, Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1920), p. 220.

  ‘Lan
zer’, S. Freud, Notes upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis (1909).

  ‘Ernest Jones’, E. Jones, Sigmund Freud Life and Work, Vol. 2: Years of Maturity 1901−1919 (The Hogarth Press, 1958), p. 42.

  ‘Sulloway’, F. Sulloway, ‘Reassessing Freud’s Case Histories’, Isis, 82 (1991), pp. 245−75.

  ‘Mademoiselle F’, J. Esquirol, Mental Maladies: A Treatise on Insanity (Lea and Blanchard, 1845/1938), pp. 348−51.

  ‘To see madhouses’, quoted in J. Goldstein, Console and Classify: The French Psychiatric Profession in the Nineteenth Century (University of Chicago Press, 1987), p.141.

  ‘field of law’, J. Goldstein, ‘Professional Knowledge and Professional Self-Interest: The Rise and Fall of Monomania in 19th-Century France’, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 21 (1998), pp. 385−96.

  ‘Harrington Tuke’, H. Tuke, ‘Monomania and Homicide’, The Lancet (12 October 1867), pp. 472−3.

  ‘Newgate’, J. Gibson, ‘Bordier’s Case’, The Lancet (2 November 1867), pp. 567−8.

  FOUR: An emerging obsession

  ‘UK government’, www.dh.gov.uk/health/category/policy-areas/social-care/mental-health.

  ‘Tavistock Clinic’, J. Sandler and A. Hazari, ‘The “Obsessional”: On the Psychological Classification of Obsessional Character Traits and Symptoms’, British Journal of Medical Psychology, 33 (1960), pp. 113−22.

  ‘bowel movements’, See for example E. Hetherington and Y. Brackbill, ‘Etiology and Covariation of Obstinacy, Orderliness and Parsimony in Young Children’, Child Development, 34 (1963), pp. 919−43.

  ‘Selfridges’, L. Warren, ‘The OCD Chopping Board with Etched Lines for a Perfectionist’, Daily Mail online (1 September 2011), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032812/The-OCD-chopping-board-etched-lines-perfectionist.html.

  ‘Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder for Dummies’, C. Elliot and L. Smith, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder for Dummies (Wiley, 2008).

  ‘Zohar’, D. Stein and N. Fineberg, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 10.

  ‘Yale-Brown’, W. Goodman et al., ‘The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 46 (1989), pp. 1006−16.

  ‘all white here’, ‘Cricket: West Indies Seeing Red Over “All White” Slogan’, New Zealand Herald (23 November 2008).

  ‘cannabis’, L. Arseneault et al., ‘Cannabis Use in Adolescence and Risk for Adult Psychosis: Longitudinal Prospective Study’, British Medical Journal, 325 (2002), pp. 1212−13.

  ‘quarter of the cohort’, M. Fullana et al., ‘Obsessions and Compulsions in the Community: Prevalence, Interference, Help-Seeking, Developmental Stability and Co-occurring Psychiatric Conditions’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 166 (3) (2009), pp. 329−36.

  ‘Belgium’, M. Fullana et al., ‘Obsessive-Compulsive Symptom Dimensions in the General Population: Results from an Epidemiological Study in Six European Countries’, Journal of Affective Disorders, 124 (2010), pp. 291−9.

  ‘two-week spell’, A. Ruscio et al., ‘The Epidemiology of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication’, Molecular Psychiatry, 15 (2010), pp. 53−63.

  ‘Murray Stein’, M. Stein, ‘Worrying About Obsessions and Compulsions’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 166 (March 2009), pp. 271−3.

  ‘pure-O’, See www.ocduk.org/pure-o.

  ‘just-not-right’, C. Sica et al., ‘“Not Just Right Experiences” Predict Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Non-clinical Italian Individuals: A One-Year Longitudinal Study’, Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 1 (2012), pp. 159−67.

  ‘high-place phenomenon’, J. Hames et al. ‘An Urge to Jump Affirms the Urge to Live: An Empirical Examination of the High Place Phenomenon’, Journal of Affective Disorders, 136 (2012), pp. 1114−20.

  ‘dentist’, L. Altman, ‘AIDS and a Dentist’s Secrets’, New York Times, 6 June 1993, http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/06/weekinreview/aids-and-a-dentist-s-secrets.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.

  ‘Concordia’, A. Radomsky et al., ‘Repeated Checking Really Does Cause Memory Distrust’, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44 (2006), pp. 305−16.

  ‘two checks’, M. Coles et al., ‘Exploring the Boundaries of Memory Distrust from Repeated Checking: Increasing External Validity and Examining Thresholds’, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44 (2006), pp. 995−1006.

  ‘to stare’, M. Van den Hout et al., ‘Uncertainty About Perception and Dissociation After Compulsive-like Staring: Time Course of Effects’, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47 (2009), pp. 535−9.

  FIVE: The OCD family

  ‘Collyers mansion’, A. Newman, ‘“Collyers Mansion” Is Code for Firefighters’ Nightmare’, New York Times (5 July 2006).

  ‘Homer and Langley’, Most details taken from M. Natanson, ‘The Rock Cried Out’, Prairie Schooner, 24 (1950), pp. 7−12 and F. Lidz, Ghosty Men (Bloomsbury, 2003).

  ‘tried to rename’, C. Gray, ‘Streetscapes’, New York Times (23 June 2002).

  ‘autism’, A. Wakabayashi et al., ‘Do the Traits of Autism Spectrum Overlap with Those of Schizophrenia or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in the General Population?’, Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6 (2012), pp. 717−25.

  ‘a tenth’, J. Stern, ‘Update on Tic Disorders and Tourette Syndrome’, Paediatrics and Child Health 20 (9) (2010), pp. 411−15.

  ‘teleshopping’, A. Bonfanti et al., ‘Kleptomania, an Unusual Impulsive Control Disorder in Parkinson’s Disease?’, Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, 16 (2010), pp. 358−9.

  ‘gambling’, D. Drapier et al., ‘Pathological Gambling Secondary to Dopaminergic Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease’, Psychiatry Research, 144 (2006), pp. 241−4.

  ‘sexsomniac’, Y. Béjot et al., ‘Sexsomnia: An Uncommon Variety of Parasomnia’, Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, 112 (2010), pp. 72−5.

  ‘nonparaphilic … Matt … Robert’, J. Abramowitz, ‘Is Nonparaphilic Compulsive Sexual Behavior a Variant of OCD?’, in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Elsevier, 2007), pp. 271−86.

  ‘Charles Marc’, M. Goldman, ‘Kleptomania: Making Sense of the Nonsensical’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 148 (1991), pp. 986–96.

  ‘Mathey’, R. Fullerton and G. Punj, ‘Shoplifting as Moral Insanity: Historical Perspectives on Kleptomania’, Journal of Macromarketing, 24 (2004), pp. 8−16.

  ‘rise in tension’, D. Simeon and H. Berlin, ‘Impulse-Control Disorders’, in Psychiatry (John Wiley, 2008).

  ‘dashboard’, J. Dean et al., ‘Pathological Hair-Pulling: A Review of the Literature and Case Reports’, Comprehensive Psychiatry, 33 (1992), pp. 84−91.

  ‘Rapunzel syndrome’, I. Kirpinar et al., ‘Recurrent Trichobezoar Due to Trichophagia: A Case Report’, General Hospital Psychiatry, 35 (2013), pp. 439−41.

  ‘near-fatal’, R. O’Sullivan et al., ‘Near Fatal Skin Picking from Delusional Body Dysmorphic Disorder Responsive to Fluvoxamine’, Psychosomatics, 40 (1999), pp. 79−81.

  ‘BDD by proxy’, M. Kelly and K. Phillips, ‘Phenomenology and Epidemiology of Body Dysmorphic Disorder’ in G. Steketee, The Oxford Handbook of Obsessive Compulsive and Spectrum Conditions (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 55.

  ‘a quarter’, M. Kelly and K. Phillips, ‘Phenomenology and Epidemiology of Body Dysmorphic Disorder’ in G. Steketee, The Oxford Handbook of Obsessive Compulsive and Spectrum Conditions (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 57.

  ‘Morselli’, K. Phillips, ‘Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Recognising and Treating Imagined Ugliness’, World Psychiatry, 3 (1) (2004), pp. 12−17.

  ‘Body Integrity’, R. Blom et al., ‘Body Integrity Identity Disorder’, PLoS ONE, 7 (April 2012), e34702.

  ‘hypochondriasis’, S. Taylor et al., ‘Hypochondriasis and Health-Related Anxiety’, in P. Sturmey and M. Hersen (eds.), Handbook of Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Psychology (Wiley, 2012).

  ‘unrelated to food’, D. Garner et al., ‘Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Anorexia Nervosa’, in
D. Garner and P. Garfinkel, Handbook of Treatment for Eating Disorders, Guildford (1997), pp. 94−144.

  ‘Rachel’, C. Schupak and J. Rosenthal, ‘Excessive Daydreaming: A Case History and Discussion of Mind Wandering and High Fantasy Proneness’, Consciousness and Cognition, 18 (2009), pp. 290−92.

  ‘academic survey’, J. Bigelsen and C. Schupak, ‘Compulsive Fantasy: Proposed Evidence for an Under-reported Syndrome Through a Systematic Study of 90 Self-Identified Non-normative Fantasisers’, Consciousness and Cognition, 20 (2011), pp. 1634−48.

  ‘jealousy’, D. Marazziti et al., ‘Normal and Obsessional Jealousy: A Study of a Population of Young Adults’, European Psychiatry, 18 (2003), pp. 106−11.

  ‘pet rabbit’, S. Taylor et al., ‘Cognitive Approaches to Understanding Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders’ in G. Steketee, The Oxford Handbook of Obsessive Compulsive and Spectrum Disorders (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 234.

  ‘signs of a tail’, C. Volz and I. Heyman, ‘Case Series: Transformation Obsession in Young People with Obsessive-Compulsive disorder’, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 46 (2007), pp. 766−72.

  SIX: Cruel to be kind

  ‘pleaded’, A. Solomon, The Noonday Demon: An Anatomy of Depression (Vintage, 2002), p. 84.

  ‘zero evidence’, K. Ponniah et al., ‘An Update on the Efficacy of Psychological Treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Adults’, Journal of Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2 (2013), pp. 207−18.

  ‘Holy Ghost’, V. Meyer, ‘Modification of Expectations in Cases with Obsessional Rituals’, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 4 (1966), pp. 273−80.

  ‘compromise’, www.ocdhistory.net/20thcentury/the_term_ocd.html.

  ‘reflex at a distance’, D. Todes, ‘From the Machine to the Ghost Within: Pavlov’s Transition from Digestive Physiology to Conditional Reflexes’, American Psychologist, 52 (1997), pp. 947–55.

  ‘wallpaper’, H. Eysenck, ‘Personality and Behaviour Therapy’, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 504 (1960), pp. 18−22.

  ‘gamblers’, J. Barker and M. Miller, ‘Aversion Therapy for Compulsive Gambling’, The Lancet (26 February 1966), pp. 491−2.