Most
of us know the feeling, or think we do. We know what it’s like to go back for
one last look at the gas burner we know isn’t on. Some of us, after filling the
car, have a thing about double-checking the petrol cap. And who among us hasn’t
wondered, just for a second, how it would feel to shout something offensive on
a crowded street?David Adam, author of The Man Who Couldn’t Stop, does not reject the popular notion that we are all a bit OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, he explains, begins with the kind of unwanted irrational thought that nearly all of us seem to have. But for most of us, such thoughts are fleeting rather than crippling. For most of us, one superfluous check of the stove will be enough. We can then forget about it and enjoy the rest of the evening. Imagine, though, not being able to forget about it. Imagine not being able to enjoy anything through the suffocating burden of the uninvited thought. “Imagine,” as Adam puts it, “that you can never turn it off.” That is OCD ... [read more]
