Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: Treating and Understanding Crippling Habits »

Running fifteen miles a day without being in training . . . taking two-hour showers and constantly changing clothes . . . working twelve hours a day, six days a week . . . ...

Library Journal

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the mysterious illness that compels its victims to perform such ordinary behavior as handwashing in an abnormal manner, afflicts an estimated four million Americans. Addressing OCD sufferers, their families, and health professionals, psychotherapist Levenkron asserts that people who have been underparented develop OCD to combat their resulting insecurity. Case histories follow OCD patients through the therapeutic process, which Levenkron believes should provide nurturing but authoritative counseling to gain patient trust and medical intervention to help end compulsive behavior. While Judith Rapoport's The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing (Dutton, 1989) introduced the disease to laypersons, this title explores a new treatment alternative. For large medical and psychology collections.-- Linda S. Green, Chicago P.L.