Read It Once, Read It Twice
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Publications
Updated 23-Jan-2016
Understandable Articles
Books
Poetry
Scholarly Papers
Articles
This section used to be divided into "Collections of Articles"
and "Individual Articles", the latter mostly dating back to the 1990's. There
must be thousands of OCD articles on the Internet now, too many for me to keep
track of. Consequently, I've deleted the "Individual Articles" and will only
maintain the "Collections of Articles". The Internet is a treasure trove and
I can't count every coin!
Collections of Articles
- Don't
Think About Monkeys On-Line Magazine - is mostly devoted to
TS, but it includes some OCD-related articles:
- HealthyPlace
OCD Community Conference
Transcripts
(of on-line chats, moderated by David Roberts and with questions from
the audiences):
- Internet Mental
Health: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - has, on-line, a number of
OCD articles originally published in The Harvard Mental Health
Letter.
- Managing Fear and
Anxiety - is a collection of articles by Stanley Popovich, author
of the book, A Layman's
Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non-Resistant
Methods, and an article,
"Living
With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Your Fearful Thoughts".
- New York City Voices - "A Peer
Journal for Mental Health Advocacy" which has many OCD-related articles.
Search (upper left-hand corner) on "obsessive compulsive" for, at this
time, 43 articles that deal with or mention OCD. (Don't search on
"OCD" - it yielded 0 results for some reason.)
- OCD
(Wayback Machine) - is a small collection of essays on OCD and the
movie, As Good As It Gets. Click on the .HTM
files to see the essays. (The links in the Table of Contents,
"CONT.HTM", don't work.)
- Obsessive-Compulsive -
Suite101.com - is a collection of columns by
Cherlene Pedrick, R.N.;
the site also features links to OCD resources on the Internet and its
own web-based discussion group.
- OCD Support Group (Christchurch, New
Zealand) - has its full-color
newsletters on-line
in PDF format.
- Pediatric Psychiatry
Pamphlets - Dr. Jim Chandler's comprehensive overviews of various
childhood anxiety disorders, including
OCD.
An essential site for parents of children who suffer from anxiety
disorders.
- Quebec OCD Foundation:
- Saint
Louis Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Support Group Articles and
Downloads (PDF files) - has a large number of articles, as well as
many reprints from IOCDF newsletters.
- Western
Suffolk Psychological Services - has a collection of articles on
OCD, trichotillomania, depression, etc. Many of the articles are by
Dr.
Fred Penzel, a frequent contributor to the
IOCDF
Newsletter.
Books
- Amazon.com's
List of OCD Books
- Amazon.com Associates (ordering via the links
on these pages results in a small commission being paid to the
designated organization):
I am not an associate of Amazon.com or any
other bookseller; the links below are to reviews and announcements. There are,
however, many more books on OCD; visit one or more of the booksellers above
for more complete listings.
- Blink,
Blink, Clop. Clop: Why Do We Do Things We Can't Stop?
(Wayback Machine) - by
E. Katia Moritz,
Ph.D. and Jennifer Jablonsky; illustrations by
Rick Geary.
A storybook aimed at helping young children to understand and manage
OCD. (The publisher,
Childswork/Childplay, has
books and games for other disorders as well.)
- The
Ray of Hope: A Teenager's Fight Against Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder - by Ray St. John, whose OCD began when he was 5
years old. The OCD worsened in his teen years and by the time he was
17, "his life essentially came to a halt." Ray's mother helped him
through a successful course of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
therapy and he is now living a normal life. "Ray decided to write
this book to help other adolescents who are suffering from OCD."
(Book blurb)
- The
School of OCD (Wayback Machine) -
by Kirk Stacey and
Susan Goater. Not really
a book per se, but an on-line series of illustrations of
different types of OCD.
- The
Secret Problem - is a cartoon book about OCD for children,
written and illustrated by Drs. Chris Wever and Neil Phillips, two
psychiatrists in Australia. They have also written similar books
about panic disorder and ADD; see
Shrink-Rap Press.
- Up
and Down the Worry Hill: A Children's Book about Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder and its Treatment - by
Dr. Aureen Pinto Wagner.
The book is also available as an
audio
CD, read by Dr. Wagner herself. (Publisher's site)
- I
Can't Stop: A Story about Tourette Syndrome - by Holly L.
Niner; illustrated by Meryl Treatner. "Useful in most libraries and
critical at schools where there are children struggling with TS
(Tourette syndrome)." (Quote from Booklist) The main character
in the book is Nathan, an elementary school student. (Author's site)
- Joshua
and Carrie - by Gail Gerald, is the story of two 18-year olds
"who deal with having obsessive compulsive disorder". (Available in
paperback and eBook formats)
- Kissing
Doorknobs - by Terry Spencer Hesser. A young adult novel
told from the point of view of a 14-year-old who has developed OCD.
(Review and discussion)
- Mr.
Worry: A Story about OCD - by Holly L. Niner; illustrated by
Greg Swearingen. "Soft soothing artwork accompanies a quiet story about
a young boy trying to overcome the terrors of obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD) in his daily life." (Quote from Booklist)
(Author's site)
- A
Scary Scene in a Scary Movie - by Matt Blackstone. "Rene,
an obsessive-compulsive fourteen year old, smells his hands and wears
a Batman cape when he's nervous. If he picks up a face-down coin,
moves a muscle when the time adds up to thirteen (7:42 is bad luck
because 7 + 4 + 2 = 13), or washes his body parts in the wrong order,
Rene or someone close to him will break a bone, contract a deadly virus,
and/or die a slow and painful death like someone in a scary scene
in [a] scary movie." Matt Blackstone, a 10th-grade English teacher,
wrote this book "to give [students] hope, and to make them feel less
desperate and alone." But don't let that scare you away (no pun
intended). As Seventeen magazine's
review
says, "You'll love it if... you love stories with quirky characters
and tales of the underdog prevailing. It's never cheesy or unrealistic,
just a good book that makes you want to take the world less seriously."
Also see Matt's blog.
(Publisher's site)
- A
Thought Is Just a Thought: A Story of Living with OCD - by
Leslie Talley, with a foreword by Dr. Michael Jenike. This is an
illustrated story of a young girl, Jenny, "who suffers from
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It describes Jenny's visits
with her mother to a doctor. He notices that Jenny is afraid to
stop tapping the wall with her fingers for fear that her sister won't
come home, and that she is afraid to walk on the white squares of the
kitchen's black and white, tiled floor." The doctor's name is Mike,
by the way! (Publisher's site)
- "Wanda's
Secrets: A Story About a Girl with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" -
by Cherry Pedrick, R.N.,
is an on-line short story about Wanda, who is in the fourth grade.
- From
Thoughts to Obsessions: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in Children and
Adolescents - by Per Hove Thomsen.
- Helping
Your Child with OCD: A Workbook for Parents of Children with
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - by
Lee Fitzgibbons, Ph.D.
and
Cherry Pedrick, R.N.
- Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder: Help for Children and Adolescents - by
Mitzi Waltz. (The
publisher's page
includes a table of contents, reviews, and the preface from the book.)
(IOCDF review)
- Students with OCD: A Handbook
for School Personnel - by Gail Adams, Ed.D. "[T]he
definitive resource developed to provide education professionals
and parents the comprehensive information they need to help students
with OCD receive the education they deserve." (Book's website; allows
on-line purchase of the book.)
- Teaching
the Tiger: A Handbook for Individuals Involved in the Education of
Students with ADD, TS, or OCD - by Marilyn P. Dornbush and
Sheryl K. Pruitt. The publisher,
Hope Press, has other books
on Tourette Syndrome and ADHD.
- Treatment
of OCD in Children and Adolescents: Professional's Kit - is
a collection of books and teaching tools for professionals, written and
compiled by
Dr. Aureen Pinto Wagner.
(Publisher's site)
- What
to Do When Your Child has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Strategies and
Solutions - by
Dr. Aureen Pinto Wagner.
(Publisher's site)
- Worried
No More: Help and Hope for Anxious Children - by
Dr. Aureen Pinto Wagner.
Also available are the
Teaching
Tools and Forms on CD. (Publisher's site)
(IOCDF review)
- Anxiety
Disorders - by Bruce M.
Hyman, Ph.D. and Cherry
Pedrick, R.N.
- The BDD
Workbook: Overcome Body Dysmorphic Disorder and End Body Image
Obsessions - by
James M. Claiborn, Ph.D. and
Cherry Pedrick, R.N.
- Binky
Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary - is an autobiographical
comic book by Justin Green, published in 1972. Green suffered from
scrupulosity as a child, as covered in the comic book, which he
attributed to his Catholic upbringing as OCD was relatively unknown
at the time. He was later diagnosed with OCD. (Wikipedia)
- The
Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing - Judith Rapoport's classic
book. (Book review)
- Break
Free from OCD: Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with
CBT - by Dr. Fiona Challacombe, Dr. Victoria Bream Oldfield,
and Professor Paul Salkovskis. "This practical guide, written by three
leading cognitive behavioural therapy experts, enables you to make sense
of your symptoms, and gives a simple plan to help you conquer OCD."
(Publisher's site)
- Can Christianity
Cure Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? A Psychiatrist Explores the Role
of Faith in Treatment - by Ian Obsorn, M.D., author of
Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals: The Hidden Epidemic of
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and himself an OCD sufferer. The
book covers both OCD in general and OCD in Christians. For the latter,
Dr. Osborn proposes a
modified
form of cognitive behavioral therapy that makes use of
"Transfer
of Responsibility", i.e., transfer the responsbility for your
obsessions to someone else, ideally God:
- Recognize obsessions when they strike
- Transfer responsibility to God
- Prove your trust; resist compulsions
The book discusses
Martin Luther,
John Bunyan, and
Saint
Thérèse of Lisieux (Wikipedia) as three influential
religious figures who overcame their OCD by putting their trust in God.
I haven't read the book yet, but the first question that springs to
my mind is: Did these three people master their OCD? Or did they
accomplish great works in spite of their OCD? These are sincere
questions; Dr. Osborn's previous book was one of the most influential
books on OCD that I had read. (Book site)
- Confronting
the Bully of OCD: Winning Back Our Freedom One Day at a Time -
by Linda Maran. The author uses "techniques taught to me by a leading
NYC OCD specialist, Dr. Steven
Brodsky, who wrote the Preface." (Author's site)
- A
Cursing Brain? The History of Tourette Syndrome - by Howard
Kushner. (Book review by Jonathan Lethem)
- Demons of
the Mind: A Memoir of an Obsessive-Compulsive - Christine
A. Marriott's autobiography. This is a free E-book - thank you from
all your readers! - and is available in various formats.
- Devil
in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood -
Jennifer Traig's
account of growing up with OCD, especially scrupulosity. From the
on-line
excerpt: "Some people won't even touch the door with a napkin;
they'll just wait until somebody comes to open the door for them.
But they're crazy!"
- Don't Think
About Monkeys: Extraordinary Stories by People with Tourette
Syndrome - by Adam Ward Seligman and John S. Hilkevich.
Also see their Don't Think About Monkeys
On-Line Magazine.
- Don't
Try Harder, Try Different - by
Patrick
McGrath, Ph.D.. (Summary article by Dr. McGrath from the IOCDF
newsletter; PDF) (More detailed
slide
presentation; PDF)
- Esquire
Presents: What It Feels Like - edited by A. J. Jacobs.
Culled from Esquire magazine's "What It Feels Like"
series, a collection of "first-person tales about the heights and
depths of human experience". Two stories especially of interest are
"What It Feels Like to Have an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" and
"What It Feels Like to Have Tourette's Syndrome". (Interview with
editor)
- Everything In
Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder - by entertainer and former national
IOCDF spokesman
Marc Summers.
(OCF review)
- Ghosty
Men: The Strange but True Story of the Collyer Brothers, New York's
Greatest Hoarders - by
Franz
Lidz. The story of the Collyer brothers is interleaved with the
story of Lidz's Uncle Arthur, whose hoarding habits also appear in
Lidz's memoir, Unstrung Heroes.
- The Habit
Change Workbook: How to Break Bad Habits and Form Good Ones -
by James M. Claiborn, Ph.D. and
Cherry Pedrick, R.N.
(IOCDF
review)
- The
Hair Pulling Problem: A Complete Guide to Trichotillomania -
by
Fred
Penzel, Ph.D. Also see his many
articles.
- A Layman's Guide to
Managing Fear: Using Psychology, Christianity and Non-Resistant
Methods - by Stanley Popovich. (Author's book site)
- A Life Lived
Ridiculously - by Annabelle R. Charbit, Ph.D. (Book site;
plot
summary)
- Loving
Someone with OCD: Help for You and Your Family - by
Karen J. Landsman, Ph.D., Kathleen M. Rupertus, M.A., M.S., and
Cherry Pedrick, R.N.
- Madness
on the Couch: Blaming the Victim in the Heyday of
Psychoanalysis - is a book by
Edward Dolnick
which focuses on the historical misapplication of Freud's theories
to the understanding and treatment of schizophrenia, autism, and
obsessive-compulsive disorder. (Book review;
my book
review)
- Managing
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Sufferer's Question and Answer
Guide - by Mark L. Berger, Ph.D., with commentary by
Dr. Steven Phillipson.
The book "presents OCD from the perspective of a patient and his
cognitive-behavioral psychologist." (The linked-to web page has
information on ordering the book directly from the author.)
- Memoirs of a Born
Shlepper: Never Give OCD a Third Thought - by Rod Fadem. Nancy at
Amazon.com commented, "While the laughs make the book enormously
readable, the poignant stories about Fadem's personal struggles make
the book truly memorable." (St. Louis OCD Support Group)
- Naked -
by David Sedaris. One chapter, "The Plague of Tics", describes his
childhood struggles with OCD. You can hear him read a semi-humorous,
semi-serious excerpt from the chapter
here
(MP3 and RealAudio formats). (Book review)
- ...
nine, ten, do it again. A Guide to Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder - by Kathryn I'Anson. The web page has excerpts
from the book and a table of contents.
- Obsessive-Compulsive and
Related Disorders: A Comprehensive Clinical Guide - by
Lorrin Koran, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Stanford University and
director of the Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders Clinic.
- Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder - by
Cherry Pedrick, R.N. and
Bruce M. Hyman, Ph.D.
- Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder: Theory, Research and Treatment - edited by
Ross G. Menzies and
Padmal de Silva. Chapter 1 is available on-line as a PDF file:
"The
Classification and Diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder", by
Annette Krochmalik and Ross G. Menzies; it provides both an interesting
history of OCD and a discussion of contemporary issues regarding the
diagnosis and classification of OCD.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders:
A Guide to Getting Well and Staying Well - by
Fred
Penzel, Ph.D. Also see his many
articles.
(IOCDF review)
- The
Obsessive-Compulsive Trap: Real Help for a Real Struggle -
by Mark Crawford, Ph.D. (Book seller; includes excerpt.)
- The
Obsessive Compulsive's Meditation Book - by
Dr.
Christian R. Komor. The web page has excerpts from the book and a
table of contents.
- The
OCD Answer Book - by
Patrick
McGrath, Ph.D.. (Book review from the IOCDF newsletter; PDF)
- OCD
Dissected - by
Kirk Stacey and Susan
Goater. A "workbook/manual for people with OCD by a sufferer of OCD."
Also see the list of
OCD- and
non-OCD-related web sites created by Kirk; scroll way down!
(Book Forward and ordering contact)
- OCD:
A Life Among Secrets - is the autobiography of Steven
Diamond, "a professional Las Vegas magician who suffered with chronic
OCD". (Author's book page)
(My book
review)
- The OCD
Workbook: Your Guide to Breaking Free from Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder - by
Bruce M. Hyman, Ph.D. and
Cherry Pedrick, R.N.
(IOCDF
review)
- Overcoming
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive
Behavioral Techniques - by
Dr. David Veale and Robert
Willson. (Publisher's page)
- Overcoming
OCD and Schizophrenia With God in My Life - by Chip Correll.
(Review)
- Passing for
Normal: A Memoir of Compulsion - is Amy S. Wilensky's story
of fighting both OCD and Tourette Syndrome.
(My book
review)
- Psychological
Self-Help - by
Clayton E.
Tucker-Ladd, Ph.D. is a comprehensive on-line book about what the
title suggests; the book can also be downloaded for free in PDF format.
Chapter 5 includes a
section
on OCD. There is a forum at
Psych Central, "Sharing
Self-Help Ideas" (under "Treatments and Self-Care Strategies"), that is
devoted to readers of the book.
- Rewind, Replay,
Repeat: A Memoir of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - by
Jeff Bell. "Readers will learn what OCD feels like from the inside,
and how healing is possible through therapy, determination, and the
support of loved ones." (Book's web site)
- Scruples
and Sainthood: Overcoming Scrupulosity With the Help of the
Saints - by Trent Beattie. See the book's listing on my
OCD and Religion page for
reasons why I don't think this is the best book for someone suffering
from scrupulosity. (Publisher's site)
- A
Secret Madness - by Elaine Bass. "This is the story of my
marriage in the fifties and how the secrets of my husband's illness
were gradually uncovered."
- The Sky
is Falling: Understanding and Coping with Phobias, Panic, and
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders - by Raeann Dumont.
(Author's web site)
- So Many Rituals,
So Little Time: Inspiration and Encouragement for Your Journey with
OCD by Karen A. McCracken. "[A] moving, detailed, sometimes
tearful and often humorous look at [OCD]" and a guide to overcoming OCD
using your Christian faith. (OCD workshop of the same name)
- Stop
This Hurricane in My Brain: An OCD Survival Guide by Dina
Sieroslawski and soon to be published by
Llumina Press. The book
"showcases numerous personal OCD journeys" and "demonstrates that there
is life with OCD and it is possible to live happy and productive lives."
- Theoretical
Approaches to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - by Ian Jakes.
- A Thousand Frightening Fantasies: Understanding and Healing
Scrupulosity and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - by
William E.
Van Ornum, Ph.D.
- Tourette's
Syndrome -- Tics, Obsessions, Compulsions: Developmental Psychopathology
and Clinical Care - edited by James F. Leckman and Donald J.
Cohen. Reviewed by Barbara J. Coffey in The New England Journal
of Medicine, September 30, 1999; 341:1087-1088.
- Unstrung
Heroes -
Franz
Lidz's childhood memoir includes his "crazy" uncles, one of whom,
Arthur, is a hoarder. Also see
Unstrung
Heroes, the movie made from the book.
- Washing
My Life Away: Surviving Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - by
Ruth Deane. (Publisher's site)
- Why Me? -
by Mark Snape. The author suffers from OCD; I haven't read the book,
so I'm not sure if the book delves into his OCD. (Publisher's blurb)
- "Episode on
South Street" - a short story involving OCD by Ed Newman.
- Housekeeping -
by Marilynne
Robinson, is the story of two sisters raised by their Aunt Sylvie,
a hoarder. Published in 1980, the book was made into a movie of the
same name (IMDB)
in 1987. (Wikipedia)
- "Indian
Rubber Balls" - by Robert Starr. This is a short story about a man
who hears a voice in his head, but there is also a shade of OCD in his
checking the lock on his front door until his hand is "red and sore".
The man's description of the voice could apply as well to obsessions:
"[H]e imagined it curling up and ricocheting around inside his head
like an Indian Rubber Ball, giggling and pounding the inside of his
skull until he did something to appease it."
- Motherless
Brooklyn - by Jonathan Lethem. A mystery novel featuring a
detective with Tourette Syndrome. The cadence of the writing has the
feel of Tourette's - my personal impression, at least. You can hear an
excerpt from the book
here
(MP3 and RealAudio formats). (Book review)
- The
Pleasure of My Company - by Steve Martin. A lightly
humorous novella about Daniel Pecan Cambridge, "a savant whose closely
proscribed world is bounded on every side by neuroses and obsessions".
(Book review)
- Short of
a Picnic - a collection of short stories by Eric Shapiro
(Wikipedia),
screenwriter, director, and author. "Saddled with his own condition
(OCD), he's done something important to explain mental illness, and
he's done it powerfully and with a lot of class".
(Book review)
Poetry
Scholarly Papers
As with the "Articles" for the layperson section above,
I've deleted the individual scholarly articles - there are too many of them
now on the Internet - and I will only maintain the "Collections of Articles"
links here.
Collections of Articles