obsessive compulsive disorder and how to overcome it

[...]... book on how to cure obsessions in twelve easy lessons If it were claimed to be so, you would rightly ask why I am not able to cure myself It is perhaps more a ‘user’s guide’ to the obsessional personality and disorder All that I can offer is the view of an ‘expert witness’, with some leads that might help both the person with the disorder and those with whom they come into contact If you have this disorder, ... available literature and thought laterally about the results In the end a novel theory of the eye’s accommodation (how the lens changes its curvature to adjust to distance) emerged and has subsequently been 20 OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER widely assimilated into the literature I loved this work and knew that I wanted the future to be connected with biology or psychology As a student of City University,... involved in a switch to road transport would be certain to exceed the so-called subsidy to the railways I couldn’t see the logic of it then and still can’t today Within about four months of starting at university my mother was taken into hospital One Friday morning, I received a letter from her, 17 18 OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER telling me that she was going home that day and looked forward to seeing me... politics of Utopia and railways, a fusion very meaningful to me With such credentials, why did destiny not lead me into becoming a vicar? I lent the work to my schoolmate Christopher, who in turn showed it to his father, a Conservative It evoked the comment ‘Not bad At least he is not a Communist.’ I then wrote a short book about a traveller in the Soviet 10 OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER Union, much to the... preferred to join the curious and morbid in the public gallery at the Old Bailey I attended the trial of the Kray brothers and, after a four-hour queue, that of Dr Stephen Ward, involved in the Profumo scandal It was exciting to hear the evidence and brush shoulders with the star witnesses, Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies – a new source of fantasy I went home some weekends to Histon Once I was waiting... the train to Histon and a railwayman asked if he could help me ‘Do you know what has happened to the Histon train?’ I asked ‘You don’t know? They closed the line last month.’ I was shocked and angry How could a country perform such an act of stupidity and vandalism as to close its railways? The cost to the public purse, in terms of the damage to the environment, extra load on police, ambulance and fire... yourself to cure the disorder More is now known about treatment, and that is reflected in this edition References to the material used in writing the book will be available on the Class website: www.class.co.uk We would like to express our thanks to Richard Warner, all of the staff at Class Publishing and our editor Gillian Clarke for their outstanding dedication to the task of producing this second edition... tending to see only what I want to see The neighbour dropped me at the house, and I entered to find my father in the kitchen in a distressed state ‘She is very ill,’ he told me I went into the living room and spoke to my mother She was clearly near to death and I couldn’t be sure that she even recognised me, though I prefer to think that she did I came out of the living room and fainted onto the kitchen... over the bus I was told not to get overexcited in public Social respectability, hard work, impeccable manners and correctness of behaviour were emphasised Taste in clothes was distinctly conservative The model of HOME IN HISTON 5 behaviour that I acquired from my father was predominantly one of respectability and integrity, with a tendency towards conformity and deference to authority There was a ‘they’... the father could be transferred to Hong Kong and thereby take the loved one away A thought pattern seemed clearly to be emerging: life was frightening because of its transient aspect and I should try to protect against this in every way Security and certainty needed to be built into life 2 Leaving school ‘Happiness must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without uncertainty.’ S AMUEL . helpful both to those who suffer from the condition and to those who wish to help but struggle to understand.’ J OAN BOND, Director, TOP UK Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Practical, tried -and- tested strategies. readable and most informative account’ Padmal de Silva Dr Frederick Toates and Dr Olga Coschug-Toates Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Practical, tried -and- tested strategies to overcome OCD SECOND EDITION Obsessive. Overlap and confusion with other conditions 101 13 Who develops the disorder, and what is it like for them? 114 14 Professional help 129 15 Self-help – what to do and what not to do 142 16 Trying to