The Man Who Couldn't Stop

"For sufferers, the thirst for relief from intrusive thoughts and compulsions can be unending and, ultimately, unquenchable. David Adam’s book should provide them with consolation (you are not alone) and hope (he’s much better now)—and it provides all readers with a fascinating glimpse of an unusual but enduring form of psychopathology that sheds light on how our ­elegantly evolutionarily designed brains can give rise to minds that sometimes work in painful, maladaptive ways."—Scott Stossel, The New York Times Book Review

"Adam, a writer and editor at the science journal Nature, layers science, history and a slim but disarmingly candid account of his own experience with OCD into a compelling portrait of the disorder, from onset to treatment. He traces links between OCD, schizophrenia, hoarding, sociopathy, autism and even religious ritual and belief. We begin to see OCD in relation to what is considered normal human behavior, such as daydreaming and the rituals invented by children, suggesting that OCD may be the exaggerated expression of certain traits more or less apparent in all of us. A sure-footed and lucid guide, Adam leads us through Freudian psychology ('Freud said that OCD was down to repressed guilt about childhood masturbation. Thanks, Sigmund'), evolutionary psychology, genetics, neurobiology, philosophy, anthropology and even zoology . . . The Man Who Couldn't Stop could easily get bogged down by jargon and theory, but Adam's voice is earnest and self-aware, punctuated by moments of wry humor. Fascinating case histories, both famous and not, help keep the pace brisk . . . The result is a rich and unblinkingly reasonable portrait of a mental illness whose hallmark may be irrationality . . . All these case histories and fascinating links lead to a grander plan made explicit in the final chapters. Here, Adam argues we scrap the 'categorical approach' to mental illness driven by the DSM, the diagnostic bible of psychiatric conditions, in favor of a more complex "dimensional approach" that scores symptoms on a sliding scale . . . Adam may not be the first to make this argument, but this is the most comprehensive and compassionate book on OCD to date, and it offers hope that our thinking and behavior—both individual and collective—can change."—Meehan Crist, Los Angeles Times